Ukraine reacts to Lazarenko's allegations (02/06/00)

Ukraine reacts to Lazarenko's allegations

Following is a statement issued on February 1 by the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington.

On January 28, the Financial Times published two articles that contained certain groundless statements and insinuations made by former Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Lazarenko, who is currently held in [INS] custody in the U.S.A. The same day the Associated Press and The New York Times republished some of those allegations.

These publications reported on the intentions of Mr. Lazarenko to make public his accusations that members of government and National Bank of Ukraine allegedly were involved in the embezzlement of budget funds and money laundering, and misused the money provided by the International Monetary Fund.

In particular, Mr. Lazarenko maintains that in December 1997 $613 million that had been received from the IMF were invested into speculative government securities, and that operation brought $200 million in profits to persons close to the president.

The above-mentioned allegations are aimed at discrediting relevant state agencies of Ukraine, undermining its international prestige and complicating the relations of Ukraine with the United States of America and international financial institutions. It suffices to point out in this connection that in the fourth quarter of 1997, to which Mr. Lazarenko allegedly refers, Ukraine received from all non-residents, including the International Monetary Fund, an amount that was less than half of the quoted sum.

These allegations made by Mr. Lazarenko, who is facing corruption charges in Ukraine and Switzerland, can only be explained by his desire to evade responsibility for the crimes he perpetrated. Portraying himself as a person who is prosecuted in Ukraine for political reasons, Mr. Lazarenko is trying to receive political asylum in the U.S., thus avoiding a just investigation of charges presented against him by the law enforcement bodies of two countries.

This is not for the first time that the former Ukrainian officials have tried to use the Western media to spread such false political insinuations. These accusations are conjured up and groundless. It is an established fact that representatives of American law enforcement bodies question Mr. Lazarenko's statements. Furthermore, IMF officials recently stated that they have no evidence of misappropriation of these funds in Ukraine.

With the goal of refuting any possible accusations of such nature, the National Bank of Ukraine made public information about the foreign currency and gold reserves of Ukraine after this information had been carefully considered and verified by the international auditors and experts of the IMF. Also, the National Bank of Ukraine on its own initiative recently reached an agreement with PriceWaterhouseCoopers to have an unscheduled independent international audit of the transactions mentioned in the publications.

Furthermore, since March 1998, after previous activities of the National Bank had been reviewed, the National Bank has undergone quarterly international audits.

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