Alexander Gorobets: Large-scale quarrels among Ukraine’s top officials

Recently PRAVDA.Ru informed, Ukrainian influential newspaper Kievsky Telegraph published a material about connection of Yevgeny Marchuk, the Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, with illegal arms sale abroad. The newspaper is under control of Andrey Derkach, a son of Ex-secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council Leonid Derkach who was dismissed by President Leonid Kuchma at the beginning of 2001.

The newspaper asked Public Prosecutor of Ukraine Mikhail Potebenko to institute legal proceedings against Yevgeny Marchuk and collect all necessary information on the case.

ICTV channel broadcast reaction of Mr.Marchuk to the accusation for two days running. This seems to be one of the largest quarrels among Ukraine’s top officials. The matter is, Andrey Derkach is a godson of President Kuchma. A taped one-hour interview of the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council was twice broadcast on a TV channel belonging to oligarch Viktor Pinchuk, who is also a common-law husband of Leonid Kuchma’s daughter.

Now a conflict inside the presidential family is spoken about. It is not clear so far, why Yevgeny Marchuk is involved in the conflict. The secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council says, the accusation of illegal arms sale brought against him, is connected with the Council’s checks held in the structures connected with Andrey Derkach within two last years. According to Marchuk’s estimates, Andrey Derkach lost 6-7 billion hryvnas (over $1.2 billion) during the checks. He also estimated the publications about his illegal participation in arms sale abroad to this very sum. Thus,Yevgeny Marchuk considers the publications to be a revenge for the checks at the enterprises with which Andrey Derkach is said to be connected.

Five cases have been instituted during the checks. The first one is about joint-stock enterprises with foreign investments. The enterprises have been exempt from the excise in different, even shady, ways and exported $200 million from the country by the end of the year. In Marchuk’s words, the figure is officially published for the first time.

The second case concerns shady railway transactions. Evgeny Marchuk says, the checks revealed, that 1.5 billion Ukrainian hryvnas (300 million conventional units) had been derived from the profitable branch in favor of commercial structures.

As for his private security, Evgeny Marchuk is determined to keep on investigating the schemes, despite any possible anonymous threats that may appear.

Two more cases, that are supposedly to be the causes for the publications in Kievsky Telegraph newspaper, concern the Nikolayev alumina plant and Eximnefteprodukt enterprise. In Marchuk’s words, the cases demonstrate ways for appropriation of strategically important enterprises. As for Eximnefteprodukt’s case, Yevgeny Marchuk says that $800 000 have been spent on the operation to get ownership of this oil transporting and refining object with an annual profit of $100 million.

The last case concerns Era TV company. The checks revealed that forged documents had been used for the registration.

In the words of Yevgeny Marchuk, all the cases mentioned above were the causes for the accusations published. Investigation of the cases is also connected with people’s Deputy Andrey Derkach.

One of the scandal’s objective is to let the people know, to what extent the oligarchs steal.

Alexander Gorobets PRAVDA.Ru Kiev Ukraine

Translated by Maria Gousseva

In the photo: Yevgeny Marchuk

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2001/12/21/35017.html