Ex-lawmaker Mykola Martynenko has confirmed having met with fellow lawmaker Oleksandr Onyshchenko in Spain and London, where both of them had allegedly accused President Petro Poroshenko and his allies of large-scale corruption, according to his April 28 interview with the censor.net news site.
Since December, Onyshchenko has released two alleged recordings of his conversations with Martynenko – one in Spain and one in London.
The Presidential Administration has denied all of Onyshchenko’s accusations and accused him of cooperating with Russian intelligence agencies and getting a Russian passport, which he denies.
Onyshchenko has been charged with stealing Hr 1.6 billion ($64 million) from state-owned gas producer Ukrgazvydobuvannya, which he denies. He fled Ukraine before he was stripped of his parliamentary immunity in July.
Martynenko has been charged with organized crime and embezzling $17 million during uranium ore sales to the state-owned Eastern Ore Dressing Plant. He was released without bail on April 22.
Meetings with Onyshchenko
“I’ve met with Onyshchenko at least twice during this period,” Martynenko told censor.net. “Once we met in London. I flew to my daughter, not to Onyshchenko. And we met by accident there.”
He said that he had subsequently met Onyshchenko at the SHA hotel halfway between Valencia and Alicante in Spain.
“We even had dinner with him and tea after that,” Martynenko said. “We talked about something. I don’t know if he recorded the conversation or not. I swear that I haven’t read or listened to these recordings.”
Martynenko said he would not comment on the content of the conversations.
Latest recording
In Onyshchenko’s recording from London, published by the strana.ua news site on April 20, the person alleged to be Martynenko implicates Poroshenko in his schemes linked to state-owned nuclear monopoly Energoatom. Onyshchenko told the Kyiv Post that Martynenko had been talking about the Eastern Ore Dressing Plant and that Poroshenko had allegedly wanted to get a share in Martynenko’s schemes.
“(Poroshenko) hasn’t solved my business issues with Energoatom,” the person alleged to be Martynenko said. “He started bothering me and asking if he could see documents and access keys.”
Martynenko also said that the Security Service of Ukraine had started pressuring him and that Poroshenko had “broken” his schemes at Energoatom that he had been building for 10 years, according to the recording.
The person whose voice resembles Martynenko also said that Poroshenko and his business partner Kostyantyn Grigorishin had “decided to divvy up the entire energy industry.” Grigorishin has previously denied such accusations.
Another claim made by the person is that Poroshenko’s gray cardinals and lawmakers Ihor Kononenko and Oleksandr Hranovsky had extorted bribes worth $50,000, $15,000 and $10,000 from Yaroslav Moskalenko, leader of the People’s Will faction in parliament, for releasing oil and gas company Naftogaz’s ex-executive director Andriy Pasishnik from custody. Kononenko denied the accusations, while Hranovsky declined to comment.
Martynenko also said that Kononenko had seized an ore dressing plant from Rinat Akhmetov and that Kononenko and Hranovsky had delegated “their girl” to the Odesa Portside Plant – a reference to Olga Tkachenko, a Hranovsky aide and a top official at the plant, according to the recording.
Previous recordings
In Onyshchenko’s recording from Spain, published by strana.ua on Feb. 9, the person whose voice resembles Martynenko agrees with Onyshchenko’s earlier claim that Poroshenko had extorted $180 million from Akhmetov for unfreezing the assets of his oil and gas firm Naftogazvydobuvannya.
When asked by Onyshchenko whether he knew that Poroshenko had been extorting money from Akhmetov, the person alleged to be Martynenko said: “I know it’s true. But you know that Rinat will never confirm this. Do you understand?”
Onyshchenko has also claimed that Poroshenko had extorted a $80 million payment from ex-Ecology Minister Mykola Zlochevsky.
Akhmetov and Zlochevsky have denied the allegations.
The recording also implicates Poroshenko and his allies in alleged interference in the judicial system in an effort to reach a deal with Onyshchenko.
Under the deal proposed by Martynenko, Onyshchenko would pay Hr 400 million to Hr 500 million to the Ukrainian budget. Akhmetov would pay part of this amount in exchange for Onyshchenko transferring some of his assets to him.
Onyshchenko and Martynenko also said in the recording that Poroshenko’s representatives had suggested that Semion Mogilevich, the boss of bosses of the Russian Mafia, and his partner Igor Fisherman act as intermediaries in their negotiations.
Onyshchenko’s first recording was released in December. In the audio, he and People’s Will lawmaker Oles Dovhiy, whom the fugitive member of parliament described as representing Poroshenko, discuss the possibility of Onyshchenko reaching a plea bargain. Dovhiy has confirmed the authenticity of the recording, but said he had represented the People’s Will rather than Poroshenko.
