The US Department of Justice is trying to confiscate more than 200 million dollars from former Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Lazarenko for the benefit of Ukraine.
Points of attention
- The US Department of Justice is trying to confiscate for Ukraine more than 200 million dollars, which is owned by former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko.
- Pavlo Lazarenko is accused of money laundering to foreign accounts in the period from 1994 to 1999.
- Lazarenko's case is also related to money laundering through a private gas company linked to Yulia Tymoshenko.
- Pavlo Lazarenko has already been imprisoned in the USA and Switzerland, receiving a suspended sentence and confiscation of money.
They want to condemn Lazarenko for 200 million dollars
Mary Butler, head of the international division of the Department of Money Laundering and Asset Recovery of the US Ministry of Justice, noted that the scope of the charges in the case for which the US convicted Lazarenko and imprisoned him for 6 years was much narrower than the charges that are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice .
The case is still not over. But I am pleased to report that we have reached another resolution that brings us closer to being able to obtain a final forfeiture decision. Then Mr. Lazarenko can appeal as much as he wants. But we are still moving forward. "It could be more than $200 million. That's a lot of money and a lot of sensitive issues," Butler said.
What is known about the Lazarenko case
Pavlo Lazarenko is a Ukrainian politician, Prime Minister of Ukraine in 1996-1997. He was accused of money laundering to foreign accounts in 1994-1999.
According to the investigation, during his tenure as head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, Pavlo Lazarenko was engaged in money laundering through the private gas company "United Energy Systems of Ukraine", which is connected to Yulia Tymoshenko.
Pavlo Lazarenko was dismissed from the post of Prime Minister of Ukraine on July 2, 1997, and in 1998 the General Prosecutor's Office initiated a criminal case for the theft of state property in particularly large amounts.
According to the investigation, Lazarenko withdrew the money with the help of the Turkish company United Energy International Limited. On February 14, 1999, Pavlo Lazarenko was detained in New York with forged documents. In 2004, during the trial in San Francisco, the main prosecution witness was Petro Kyrychenko, a former associate of Lazarenko.
The total amount of stolen funds was 114 million dollars. In 2006, a California court sentenced Pavlo Lazarenko to 9 years in prison. He was released on November 1, 2012.
In Switzerland, he received a suspended sentence of 1.5 years, as well as confiscation of money and fines. Ukraine received 6.5 million dollars from Switzerland from funds stolen by Lazarenko.
