Businessman says he was framed (10/27/02)

Businessman says he was framed

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - A Russian businessman with extensive dealings in Ukraine's energy generating sector accused Viktor Medvedchuk, the head of the presidential administration, of orchestrating his arrest and having illicit drugs and a weapon planted on him as an act of vengeance. Mr. Medvedchuk denied any complicity.

Kostiantyn Grigorishin, a 36-year-old multi-millionaire born in Ukraine who maintains Russian citizenship, said on October 20 that his refusal to help fund the re-election campaign of the Social Democratic Party-United (SDPU) headed by Mr. Medvedchuk led to his arrest on October 12 after he left a Kyiv restaurant with a Ukrainian lawmaker.

When asked during a hastily called press conference whom he blamed for what he considered his baseless arrest, he named President Leonid Kuchma's chief of staff.

"I mean the person in the name of Viktor Vladimirovich Medvedchuk, the head of the presidential administration, who had personally threatened me, including with arrest, several times," said Mr. Grigorishin.

The Russian businessman, who took over much of the energy-generating businesses, including several regional energy providers in Ukraine owned by former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko before he fled the country, said he had several investment partnerships with the business conglomerate owned by Mr. Medvedchuk and Hryhorii Surkis. Mr. Surkis, in turn, obtained many of Mr. Lazarenko's oil and gas businesses.

Mr. Grigorishin explained that Mr. Medvedchuk approached him about a year ago, prior to the parliamentary elections, to provide financing for the SDPU. He said he declined because he wanted to stay away from Ukrainian politics in as much as he is not a Ukrainian citizen. Immediately afterwards, relations between the partners soured and ties began to come undone.

"I wanted to dissolve our business partnership in a civilized manner," explained Mr. Grigorishin, "but I was told: we will not allow you to do business in Ukraine, we will take everything and you will be imprisoned."

While Mr. Surkis made a public announcement acknowledging that he and Mr. Grigorishin had once had several common business dealings and that some common investments remain even today, his partner, Mr. Medvedchuk, refuted all allegations made by the Russian businessman that implicated him in any way in Mr. Grigorishin's arrest or any suggested threats. According to Interfax-Ukraine, Mr. Medvedchuk said he was sorry the Russian businessman had stooped to such accusations as the price he had to pay to join another political team.

Some politicians have said that Mr. Grigorishin has taken up with the political opposition, either with the political forces of Yulia Tymoshenko or Viktor Yushchenko, in order to find another "cover" for his business empire. Both consider Mr. Medvedchuk a mortal political enemy. Mr. Grigorishin denied any political ties.

Mr. Grigorishin was arrested outside a Kyiv restaurant after he and National Deputy Volodymyr Syvkovych left the establishment and entered the lawmakers late model German-made luxury vehicle. Plainclothes state militia officers immediately surrounded the automobile and forcibly removed Mr. Syvkovych from the car, even after he showed his credentials.

Mr. Syvkovych, a staunch supporter of President Kuchma, announced of the incident on October 22 that he had resigned the pro-presidential parliamentary majority in response to what he considered an illegal act by law enforcement officials against a national deputy.

Mr. Grigorishin claimed that, as he was being manhandled out of the car, a state militia officer placed a gun in the back of his pants, while the officer in charge of the operation delved into his coat pocket and came out with several packets of a white substance in his hand. Mr. Grigorishin was then arrested.

Law enforcement authorities have not yet explained the pretense for their search of Mr. Grigorishin, although the Kyiv newspaper, Den reported that witnesses saw some 40 police officers surround the car before the arrest took place.

The following day, however, the president's press service announced that in connection with the illegal arrest, Mr. Kuchma had ordered the firing of Mykola Dzhyha, the first deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. National Deputy Syvkovych had stated that one of the requirements for his return to the parliamentary majority would be Mr. Dzhyha's removal.

Mr. Grigorishin, whose release was as unexpected as his arrest, told journalists that he was not certain of his current status, although he believed he was a free man. He explained that he was told documents ordering his arrest were canceled. However, Valerii Khoroshkovskyi, assistant chief of staff in the Kuchma Administration, said during a regularly scheduled briefing at the presidential administration the next day that Mr. Grigorishin, while free, still had to answer to the charges brought against him.

Mr. Grigorishin, who asked for the protection of Ukraine's Security Service after his release from jail, became ill that evening and was hospitalized.

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