Oleksandr Yanukovych, the older son of overthrown Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, does not see any wrongdoing in his own or his father’s actions, despite being charged with crimes by Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, including “forgery which led to serious consequences.” He stays in Moscow, though has not yet obtained Russian citizenship, he said in an interview with Lb.ua, Kyiv-based news website.
“I’m a businessman that never held any public office and, in spite of the
established public opinion against me, I did not have any influence on the
processes involving any officials,” he said, while also denying any involvement
in the violence that killed more than 100 EuroMaidan activists.
Previously, numerous journalistic investigations revealed the influence
that Oleksandr had on his father’s decision-making.
Oleksandr sees his father as a “peacemaker” who “never ignored people,” while the nation’s General Prosecutors Office believes he might have stolen as much
as $100 billion, more than a half of country’s annual gross domestic product through various fraud schemes.
“Unfortunately, (my father’s) scenario has failed and we can see the war in
Ukraine now,” added Oleksandr, who took a pro-Ukrainian stance on the
issue of the fate of Crimea and Donbas, where the President Petro Poroshenko-led
anti-terrorist operation reported some substantial success in fighting
Kremlin-backed separatists.
However, it’s Viktor Yanukovych who on March 1 appealed to Russian
President Vladimir Putin to use Russia’s armed forces to restore the rule of
law in Ukraine.
Forbes Ukraine’s calculations reveal Oleksandr Yanukovych’s wealth of $78
million, while he denies that his father provided any support for Oleksandr’s
Mako Holding that manages various assets in real estate and banking sectors.
“(My father) did not even know the name of my company,” he said. Besides, the former president’s son reportedly owns Artemivsk Winery, a major champagne
producer in Donetsk Oblast.
After being asked about Mako’s more than impressive financial performance, Oleksandr
appealed to the reputation of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, a global audit firm whose
services he used for preparing the financial reports.
“I basically could not conduct any illegal activity anywhere as I always
obey the laws, pay all taxes,” Oleksandr emphasized. “I have no (banking)
accounts abroad. I’ve never heard from my father and my (younger) brother
(Viktor) that they had any foreign accounts either,” he added.
Meanwhile, Oleksandr’s banking accounts in Austria were frozen on the order
of the local authorities in February, according to Bloomberg.
Regarding Geneva prosecutor’s investigation on his allegedly illegal
actions, Oleksandr said he was never accused of any crimes in Switzerland,
though Mako’s offices in fact were searched. However, Bloomberg reported that
criminal investigation was actually launched.
Besides, Le Figaro yet in February wrote about freezing the Yanukovych
circle’s assets in Switzerland.
Martin Nunn, Kyiv-based British expert on public communications, sees Oleksandr
Yanukovych’s willingness to give an interview to the press after not doing so
for a long period of time as an attempt to “justify his own existence.”
“His public relations manager advises him what to do at the moment,” said
Nunn. “I think, it is a pretty pointless exercise, because he is trying to
convince public opinion that he is innocent, but the real public opinion probably
already has some judgment on him.” Oleksandr might be preparing some court case
and thus willing to preempt it, Nunn assumed.
Kyiv Post staff writer Iana
Koretska can be reached at [email protected].
