Maidan

Text of report by Ukrainian Maydan web site on 1 October

On 30th September 2005 an order was issued by the prosecutor-general of Ukraine [Svyatoslav Piskun] relieving the prosecutor of Kirovohrad Region and three of his deputies of their duties. On the same day Oleksandr Hardetskyy was introduced to the employees of the Kirovohrad Region prosecutor's office. He will serve as acting deputy prosecutor and has been empowered to form a new team.

Oleh Levytskyy, who until yesterday [30 September] held the post of regional prosecutor, said that he was dismissed illegally and that Ukrainian labour legislation was violated, as was the law of Ukraine "On the Prosecutor-General's Office". He intends to challenge the Prosecutor-General's decision through the courts.

Levytskyy is convinced that the main reason for the sackings is a criminal case opened recently which impinges on the business interests of senior state officials. He is quoted as saying: "The Kirovohrad Region prosecutor's office has encroached upon the business of the wife of Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Piskun, of the wife of the head of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, [Vasyl] Malyarenko, of the wife of the former minister and chief of the State Tax Administration, [Mykola] Azarov, as well of a relative of the prosecutor-general of Ukraine."

Levytskyy said that the Planeta Investytsiy limited company founded by them, in contravention of current legislation concluded a contract to rent the entire Novoukrayinskyy kombinat khliboproduktiv [bread-baking] state enterprise. As a result of the founders of the company using shadow schemes to take advantage of a profitable state enterprise and through the use of corrupt connections, they caused losses to the state totalling several million hryvnyas.

Note: A previous order by the prosecutor-general of Ukraine to dismiss Oleh Petrovych Levytskyy from his post as chief prosecutor of Kirovohrad Region was invalidated by the Kirov local court of the city of Kirovohrad on 10 August. He was reinstated on 19 August 2005 as a result of this court decision.

>From Kirovohrad regional weekly Vedomosti Plyus.

Source: Maydan web site, in Ukrainian, 1 Oct 05