Notorious Sambir mayor detained by police on charges of bribery (08/14/05)

Notorious Sambir mayor detained by police on charges of bribery

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Notorious for corruption, Sambir's mayor is now sitting behind bars after Ukrainian police nabbed him taking a $5,000 bribe from a local businessperson.

Taras Tershovchyn became mayor of the medium-sized city in the Precarpathian region in the March 2002 elections with the support of the Our Ukraine coalition, which has since become the Our Ukraine People's Union (OUPU). He is a member of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists.

Putting a positive spin on an otherwise embarrassing situation, OUPU politicians and their allies said they had distanced themselves from Mr. Tershovchyn. They said his August 4 detention is proof that the party is actively combating corruption, even among its own ranks.

"The government is cleaning itself. That's good," National Deputy Andrii Shkil of Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko told Ukrayina Moloda, a daily newspaper in Ukraine.

Mr. Tershovchyn had demanded bribes totaling $20,000 from a Sambir businesswoman who wanted to privatize an uninhabited building, said Mr. Shkil, who represents the Sambir district in the Verkhovna Rada.

In return, Mr. Tershovchyn assured the businesswoman support for her business venture and to provide expert appraisals for her properties, according to Channel 5, Ukraine's 24-hour news network.

The businesswoman turned to police, and the Security Service of Ukraine conducted an investigation, having already obtained permission to spy on Mr. Tershovchyn's conversations, Mr. Shkil told Ukrayina Moloda.

Police searched and detained Mr. Tershovchyn after he accepted the $5,000 bribe from the businesswoman, director of the city's Cheremshyna hotel.

Mr. Tershovchyn faces between five and 10 years' imprisonment if prosecutors convict him of taking a large bribe, but other charges may be pending against him.

Mr. Tershovchyn was so renowned for his greed that he earned the nickname "Taras-Dolya," or "Taras-Share."

According to an associate, every time a big financial deal was struck in Sambir, Mr. Tershovchyn would ask, "A de moya dolya?" Lvivska Hazeta reported.

The phrase means, "And where is my share?" in English.

Under Mr. Tershovchyn's tenure as mayor, some $139,000 disappeared from the city's budget, National Deputy Yaroslav Kendzior told Ukrayina Moloda.

He said Mr. Tershovchyn's family had privatized a 107,639-square-foot property at a mere cost of $2,700.

Mr. Tershovchyn had also bragged that he had close relations with Mr. Yushchenko, claiming to have drank coffee with him, and with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, said Mr. Kendzior, a member of the Rukh party.

"I had already been saying three years ago that Mr. Tershovchyn is breaking the law and is doomed," Mr. Kendzior said. "His detention is an appropriate end to his activities."

Four days after Mr. Tershovchyn's detention, Sambir's residents crowded around city hall in the pouring rain to demand Mr. Tershovchyn's immediate resignation.

Mr. Kendzior appeared at the rally, calling for Sambir's residents to demand Mr. Tershovchyn's impeachment.

In the afternoon, city deputies voted 22 to 3 to strip Mr. Tershovchyn of his mayoral duties while he's under investigation.

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