Police say currency official was murdered in contract hit (04/26/98)

Police say currency official was murdered in contract hit

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Vadym Hetman, board chairman of the Ukrainian Interbank Currency Exchange, and a respected lawmaker who recently failed in his attempt to get re-elected to the Verkhovna Rada, was murdered the evening of April 22 as he entered his apartment in Kyiv. Police officials are calling Mr. Hetman's murder a paid assassination.

"Judging by the style in which the financial expert was killed, the murderer was a professional and it was most likely a contract hit," said Oleksander Zarubytsky, the head of the External Affairs Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Mr. Zarubytsky said three theories for the killing are being investigated. "We are looking into versions associated with Mr. Hetman's work as the director of the exchange committee, as well as the purchase by the exchange of its trading house on Kontraktova Square," said Mr. Zarubytsky. "The third version is tied to Mr. Hetman's election campaign effort."

Mr. Zarubytsky said the investigation into the murder would involve the Internal Affairs Ministry's "biggest and best" efforts.

According to the ministry spokesman, Mr. Hetman was gunned down between 10:10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., in the elevator of his apartment building in Kyiv. He was struck by four gunshots - one to the head and three to the abdomen. Police officials found six cartridges fired from a Soviet-made TT pistol. His body was discovered by residents of the building at 11:10 p.m. The Internal Affairs Ministry said no eyewitnesses have come forward and that the number of assailants is not known.

Mr. Hetman, the first chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine, was a well-respected member of the Verkhovna Rada who remained independent of the various political factions and parties.

He was considered a voice of reason and a political broker among his peers. Journalists often turned to him for an objective and politically unbiased opinion.

His popularity and achievements in the Verkhovna Rada did not lead to success in the elections, however. He was handily defeated in his re-election effort in the March 29 elections. He had, however, filed a court appeal on the results of the elections, which was to have been reviewed next week.

Mr. Hetman was considered a financial expert and had headed the Verkhovna Rada's Committee on Finance and Banking. He had been chairman of the Ukrainian Interbank Currency Exchange since its inception in 1993.

Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko, commenting on the murder of Mr. Hetman told Interfax-Ukraine on April 23: "I am grieved by the murder of such a decent, intelligent and wise person who did much to strengthen the independence of Ukraine."

President Leonid Kuchma has instructed that an ad hoc team of experts from the Ukraine's top ministries be assembled to look into the murder.