Kyiv, November 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Twenty-six officials from the previous and present authorities have faced criminal charges in Ukraine since the beginning of 2011, First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin has said.
"This year alone, 26 officials from the higher echelons of power have faced criminal prosecution, including committee heads, deputy ministers, and council heads. They are representatives of the current authorities and the present opposition, which was in power not long ago. They are officials, and it doesn’t matter to the investigator whether an official is in power today or in opposition," he said during the Big Politics program on the Inter TV Channel.
Commenting on claims by the Ukrainian opposition that Ukrainian Premier Mykola Azarov abused his official powers while signing an agreement on a free trade zone with CIS member states, Kuzmin said: "Until today I haven’t receive any complaints or appeals from the opposition government. If anyone comes to the prosecutor general, or to the investigative forces, and makes a formal complaint, then of course we will consider it. But believe [me], nobody has come."
The deputy also said criminal investigations into top officials are also conducted in European countries.
"Two Italian premiers were sentenced to different terms of imprisonment: one received 24 years of imprisonment and the second – 27 years. There is Silvio Berlusconi [present Italian president], who has been taken to court at least six times, where he was three times found guilty of crimes," he said.
As Kuzmin said, today the Icelandic premier is in court for poor governance of the country’s economy.
"There is a special procedure in the laws of Iceland, we also have our own special procedure. Certainly our procedure and procedure of Iceland differ, but prosecutor doesn’t invent new laws, he implements existing laws," he said.
