Oleksandr Onyshchenko, a Verkhovna Rada member from the People’s Will faction charged with embezzlement, has fled to France, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau said on June 16.
However, Onyshchenko claimed in a text message sent on the same day to Ukrainska Pravda that he was still in Kyiv.
Earlier on June 16, Nazar Kholodnytsky, Ukraine’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a request to strip Onishchenko of immunity and arrest him.
If found guilty, Onyshchenko could be sentenced to between seven and 12 years in prison.
Onyshchenko is accused of running a Hr 3 billion ($120 million) embezzlement scheme linked to state-owned gas producer Ukrgazvydobuvannya.
Ex-top executives of the firm who are believed to be proteges of the People’s Will are also implicated in the scheme, according to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Onyshchenko, also known by the nickname Kadyrov, is a former member of Yanukovych’s Party of Regions.
Sergii Leshchenko, a lawmaker from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, cited by the censor.net news website, attributed Onyshchenko’s alleged flight to a lack of political will to pass a law lifting immunity from all lawmakers.
The Onyshchenko case is likely to be blocked by allies of President Petro Poroshenko in a way similar to the case against Yanukovych ally Yury Ivanyushchenko, Leshchenko added.
Currently there is no legal way to prevent lawmakers from fleeing before they are formally stripped of immunity by parliament, said Sergey Grebenyuk, a lawyer at Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasiev and Partners.
He said that the arrest of Radical Party lawmaker Ihor Mosiychuk in a bribery case last September had been illegal. Ukrainian courts have also recognized the illegality of the arrest, while Poroshenko’s critics believe it to be politically motivated.
Grebenyuk said that a possible way out of the situation could be to pass a law banning lawmakers who face criminal charges from leaving the country.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected]
