You're reading: Parliamentary commission says it has no evidence tying Yatsenyuk to corruption

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and his Cabinet of Ministers got a clean bill of health -- of sorts -- from a parliamentary commission, which said on May 15 that it could find no evidence of the involvement of top officials in alleged embezzlement schemes.


The group was created after the ex-hjead of
the State Financial Inspection of Ukraine Mykola Gordienko accused current and
former officials of stealing Hr 7.5 billion.

Yatsenyuk fired Gordienko in early April and
ordered an investigation into the State Financial Inspection. The agency tracks
public expenses.

Gordienko accused Yatenyuk and his Cabinet of
Ministers of having knowledge of embezzlement schemes of at least Hr 3.5
billion ($150 million).
Gordienko asked the prosecutor general to investigate.

On May 15, Boryslav Bereza, an independent
lawmaker who heads the commission, says the findings of the commission didn’t
reveal “Yatsenyuk’s direct involvement” in corrupt schemes.

But Bereza also said that the commission was
denied access to all the documents needed for investigation and accused the
general prosecutor of “sabotaging” their work, noting that prosecutors “didn’t
show up at the commission’s meetings.”

Bereza added that General Prosecutor Viktor
Shokin didn’t provide the results of his investigation into Gordienko’s
findings.

Presenting the report of the commission in
Ukraine’s parliament, Bereza said also said that Yatsenyuk and subordinates are
ultimately responsible for illegal actions of their subordinates.

“The members of the group find out that there
are no criminal actions of the prime minister. However, he is responsible for
unlawful acts committed by members of his Cabinet and heads of state-run
enterprises,” Bereza said.

Besides investigating Yatsenyuk and ministers,
the commission has also been looking into the work of a number of Ukraine’s
enterprises and ministries, including Ukrtransnafta, Ukrzaliznytsia,
Ukrtelecom, Ukrposhta, Antonov Aviation Concern, Naftogaz, the Ministry of
Finance and Ukraine’s National Bank.

Citing the report, Bereza accused a lawmaker
from Yatsenyuk’s People Front party, Mykola Martnynenko, of receiving bribes.
Bereza said Martynenko was influential in Ukraine’s nuclear power sector,
especially state nuclear power company Energoatom. Martynenko was often seen as
the main political backer of the current head of the company, Yury Nedashovsky.

Martynenko, however, brushed off the
accusations.

“Accusations made by Bereza about my alleged
influence on the Energoatom company is a political gamble. He accused me,
having no clear evidence,” Martynenko said after parliament’s session.

Deputy Prosecutor General Volodymyr Guzyr also
rebuffed the accusations, saying that he personally took part in commission’s
work.

Guzyr also noted that his office is
investigating incumbent and previous governments based on the information
passed by Gordienko. They also has questioned Gordienko on April 8 and have
started 12 criminal proceedings.

Guzyr explained that Shokin sent a letter to
the parliament with the preliminary results of the investigation.

“However, these figures, which is almost 8
billion, haven’t been confirmed yet,” Guzyr said. “Our inspectors check them
all.”

He also
said that corruption in the current government have caused Hr 685 ($30 million)
million worth of losses in 2014. “But it’s not state budget funds, those are
monies from economic entities,” he said.

The commission’s work terminated on May 7. Its
14 members, however, plan to keep working.

Bereza asked lawmakers to back their decision,
but the request failed to gain enough votes.

Some of the lawmakers criticized the report
for lack of details, saying that Bereza mainly used information provided by
Gordienko.

“I don’t see the key takeaways of the report,”
Yuriy Lutsenko, the lawmaker for President Petro Poroshenko bloc said. “The
work of the group should be of a high quality.”

Other
lawmakers, however, disagreed.

Yehor Sobolev, the head of Ukraine’s committee
on preventing and combating corruption, believes the group should continue its
work. “The findings of the group should be shared in the Internet, so not only
the lawmakers can learn about the case,” Sobolev says, adding that the work of
the group should be resumed.

Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Groisman ordered
the commission for another two weeks.

Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected].