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Ukrainian MP accuses Saakashvili of extortion, racketeering in Odessa

"And those who don’t want to pay are visited by a Georgian prosecutor and a Georgian police officer. People have nobody to complain to... Saakashvili has created a vicious circle," Dmitry Golubev said

Mikhail Saakashvili Maxim Nikitin/TASS

Mikhail Saakashvili

© Maxim Nikitin/TASS

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Saakashvili does not see himself as Ukraine’s prime minister

KIEV, December 1. /TASS/. Deputy of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament) from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc Dmitry Golubev has accused the governor of the Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili, of racketeering and extortion.

"Saakashvili has started racketeering in Odessa. Large enterprises and businesspeople have been receiving letters from his adviser with a request, for example, to find a way to provide charitable contribution in the amount of 2.5 million hryvnia ($104,000) and thanks for the attention and understanding. And they pay the money," the lawmaker said on TV Channel 112 on Tuesday.

According to him, "almost all major Odessa businessmen pay Saakashvili."

"I have the materials that confirm my words. I will certainly publish them. And those who don’t want to pay are visited by a Georgian prosecutor and a Georgian police officer. People have nobody to complain to... Saakashvili has created a vicious circle," Golubev said.

Previously, Saakashvili has repeatedly accused the government and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk of corruption.

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