Posted on 02/07/2005 1:45:56 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Moscow (CNSNews.com) - The newly-appointed government of Ukraine is wasting no time turning its attention to allegations of corruption and dangerous weapons deals under the previous administration.
The moves come shortly after Ukraine's parliament unanimously approved Yulia Tymoshenko, a nationalist and frequent critic of Russia, as prime minister to lead the country's new pro-Western government.
Recently-elected President Viktor Yushchenko told lawmakers his government would fight corruption though he knew that "that may seem like a fantasy in Ukraine."
He said he trusted his "political partner" to organize the government.
Voting by lawmakers was delayed by a day due to horse-trading over other top positions.
Tymoshenko, a firm supporter of the new president, outlined her broad goals, pledged to fight corruption, work for "justice," raise living standards and separate business from power.
Tymoshenko needed 266 votes to get the post, but she was elected unanimously, a vote of 373-0.
Kiev has promised to review all privatization deals considered dubious, and at its first cabinet meeting, the new government agreed to stop the planned privatization of the country's largest steel plant, Krivorozhstal.
During the election campaign, Yushchenko insisted on a moratorium on the privatization of the country's largest companies, pledging to review what he called the "theft of state property."
The new government has also turned its attention to concerns that Iran and China had bought from Ukraine long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Last week Grigory Omelchenko, a politician and ally of the country's new leadership claimed that Ukraine sold six air-to-ground cruise to Iran and six to China in 1999-2001.
In a letter Omelchenko, who is deputy head of a parliamentary committee on organized crime, urged the president to investigate the matter.
At least six arrests of arms dealers have been reported.
The U.S. earlier claimed that Ukraine had sold sophisticated radar equipment to Saddam Hussein despite a U.N. arms embargo against Iraq. The government of former President Leonid Kuchma denied the allegations.
From Wikipedia - a good summary. Who knows what to believe about ANY of these Eastern Blocheads. I don't trust an of 'em!
Tymoshenko was fired by President Leonid Kuchma in January 2001, on charges of forging customs documents and smuggling Russian natural gas while she was the president of United Energy Systems of Ukraine between 1995 and 1997. She was arrested in February 2001 but was released and cleared of charges several weeks later. According to Tymoshenko, the accusations were fabricated by Kuchma's regime, under the influence of coal industry oligarchs threatened by her efforts to root out corruption and institute market-based reforms.
However, Tymoshenko's critics have suggested that, as a so-called oligarch, her fortune was gained improperly. Some have speculated her familiarity with the illegal conduct of business common in Ukraine uniquely qualifies her to combat corruption. Her former business partner, the former Ukraine Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko is fighting extradition back to Ukraine on allegations of abusing his office for personal gain. He is believed to have sent billions of dollars outside of the country. In addition her husband, Oleksandr, is still in hiding outside of Ukraine facing charges he and his wife describe as unfounded and politically motivated by the former Kuchma administration. Their lawyers are believed to be preparing legal action to dismiss these charges.
KYIV. Feb 5 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ex-Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma is in an optimistic mood and intends to be fully engaged in the activities of a club of ex-presidents, parliamentarian Viktor Pinchuk, who is Kuchma's son-in-law and a prominent businessman, told the press.
"I know that he trains in a gym regularly, almost daily, and he is examining the structure of his fund. I saw a test version of his website the other day - it is very impressive and super-modern," Pinchuk said.
Kuchma plans several trips in February, Pinchuk said. "I, for instance, was in Davos, and several heads of state with whom I met there asked me to say hi to him and invited him to visit their countries. So I believe he will lead an active life as a member of the club of former presidents, which exists on the planet," he said.
Kuchma earlier announced that he would set up his own fund after leaving the presidential office. In November 2004, in the midst of the presidential campaign, he presented his fund called Ukraine.
The new president, Viktor Yushchenko, officially took office on January 23.
Melnychenko said he provided the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with a recorded conversation purportedly between Kuchma and the then head of the SBU, Leonid Derkach, in which a voice alleged to be Derkach's is heard saying that the sale of the missiles to Iran was conducted with the help of the Russian Security Service (FSB).
Cruising For A Scandal
The Soviet-made cruise missiles in question, the KH-55 (NATO classification AS-15 Kent) and KH-55SM (NATO classification AS-15B), are capable of delivering a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead, although Omelchenko told RFE/RL on 2 February that they were not equipped with nuclear warheads when exported to Iran. The KH-55 has a range of 2,400 kilometers, and the KH-55SM has range of 2,990 kilometers. Both are designed to be launched from heavy bombers.
According to Omelchenko, 20 cruise missiles were falsely listed as having been destroyed by the leadership of the Ukrainian armed forces, and then 12 were covertly sold to Iran and China after end-user certificates falsely naming Russia as the end user were presented to the SBU. The SBU approved the sale of the missiles and allowed for their export through the state export control agency.
A series of shell companies and fake contracts were set up in Cyprus and other jurisdictions to facilitate payment for the missiles, according to Omelchenko's letter. The money was then withdrawn by the Ukrainian side and subsequently disappeared. After the missiles arrived in Iran, a group of Ukrainian specialists were sent there to help service the missiles.The cruise missiles were part of the large arsenal of Soviet arms that remained in Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR.
Omelchenko's letter went on to say that an Iranian company identified as SATAK Ltd. concluded a false contract with the Cypriot-registered company S.H. Heritage Holdings Ltd. to buy gas turbines for the Iranian oil industry. This contract served as a cover for payments for the cruise missiles and related equipment, according to the letter.
In April-May 2002, $12 million was transferred from SATAK to the Heritage Holdings account at the Arab Bank in Cyprus. Soon afterward, the Iranian Defense Ministry transferred another $1.5 million to this same account, the letter went on to say. From the total sum, $7 million was then transferred by Heritage Holdings to the Central European International Bank in Budapest to the account of a U.S. company, SP Trade Inc. which then sent $2.25 million to Aizkraukles Bank in Riga, Latvia, into the account of a U.S. company Interworks LLC. Interworks then transferred $750,000 to an account in an AKB Impeksbank bank in Odesa from where this money was withdrawn as cash in 2002.
Pattern Of Abuse? In the summer of 2000, recordings made by Melnychenko and authenticated by the FBI had revealed that President Kuchma intended to sell the advanced Kolchuga radar system to Iraq. A subsequent U.S.-British commission of inquiry established that Kuchma did, in fact, have a conversation with UkrSpetzExport head Valeriy Malyev in his office about selling the Kolchuga to Iraq, but Kuchma and SBU officials at that time claimed that the sale never took place. The United States has not found any Kolchugas in Iraq.
In the case of the cruise missiles allegedly sold to Iran, the same officials from UkrSpetzExport who claimed that the Kolchugas were not sold and could never have left the country due to strict export controls, have now been implicated in the sale of the cruise missiles to Iran and criminal cases have been instituted against them.
According to Omelchenko's letter, on 22 October the SBU formally opened a criminal case and charged a number of high officials of UkrSpetzExport with embezzling $13 million from the sale of these cruise missiles.
Omelchenko and SBU investigators claim that Malyev, who headed UkrSpetzExport at the time of the alleged sales to Iran, knew that the sales were illegal and were destined for Iran. Malyev died in a suspicious car accident in March 2002.
Ukrainian citizens, acting on their own behalf, have been involved in illegal arms sales to Africa and Croatia since the fall of communism, but the alleged sale of cruise missiles to Iran in 2002 would be the first recorded instance in which Ukrainian governmental structures acted with the apparent knowledge of the president and the secret services of the country in carrying out such an operation.
Such a scenario would also make the purported sale of the Kolchuga radar system to Iraq seem more probable. - Wednesday, 02 February 2005 - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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