Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko believes that there is insufficient evidence to open a criminal investigation into possible wrongdoing by former Prime Minister and head of the People's Front Party Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
“I still have not looked at the materials [about Yatsenyuk],” Lutsenko told journalists in Kyiv on June 9.
“Considering that cases [involving Yatsenyuk] have been opened and closed several times, my first impression is that this matter is purely a political PR stunt of Verkhovna Rada MP [Serhiy] Kaplin,” Lutsenko said. He added that no new arguments, including court rulings, for opening a case have been made.
“I’m afraid that laws used which require opening a case in response to accusations are for PR purposes,” he said.
Ukraine’s chief prosecutor said if concrete facts of wrongdoing were presented by any official in Ukraine, he would be ready to investigate them.
“There are no untouchables in the government, but on the other hand, it is necessary to learn to distinguish facts from pompous declarations. The latter, unfortunately, are the forte of many Ukrainian lawmakers,” Lutsenko said.
As reported earlier, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (PGO) responded to an inquiry by unaligned MP Dmytro Dobrodomov, a member of the parliament’s anti-corruption committee, confirming that a case had been opened in connection with a $3 million dollar bribe allegedly given to Yatsenyuk for appointing Volodymyr Ishchuk to head the Radio Broadcasting and TV Concern.
The PGO said it had not pressed any charges against Yatsenyuk, adding that the criminal matter had been registered by court order.
