All news

Radical party leader accuses Poroshenko of corruption

Oleh Lyashko said he was ready to testify against Poroshenko in court

KIEV, September 17 /TASS/. Oleh Lyashko, the leader of Ukraine’s Radical Party parliamentary faction, has branded Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko as the biggest criminal and the most corrupt politician in the country.

"Poroshenko violated the law, tramped down on the Constitution and breached all the other possible procedures. For the moment, Poroshenko is the main criminal and most corrupt person in the country. He has headed corruption," Lyashko told journalists outside Verkhovna Rada’s building on Thursday when police were searching a car, which allegedly belonged to Radical Party Deputy Igor Mosiychuk who was arrested earlier in the day.

Lyashko said he was ready to testify against Poroshenko in court.

"I have been to Poroshenko this week. He has asked and begged me, and offered bribes and money five times to get my agreement not to block the appointment of his person as the head of Ukraine’s State Service for Geology and Mineral Resources (Gosgeonedr)," the Ukrainian politician said.

Poroshenko wanted to appoint a person who is close to him to this post in order to regain control of the country’s oil and gas business, which the previous authorities had taken away from him, Lyashko said

The deputy said he was being subject to political reprisals after blocking such a decision in parliament.

"I claim that corruption is coming from the president’s office. Poroshenko has started arresting deputies indiscriminately and bribing them in pursuit of one single goal to destroy me and to discredit and crush our team," the faction leader said.

He noted that the Ukrainian president had personally obstructed the adoption of a bill on the natural gas market to protect the interests of Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash.

Lyashko also said that a fake video about his intimate life had been distributed by media outlets controlled by the authorities.