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Georgia's ex-president ready to expose Ukraine’s plundering schemes

According to Mikheil Saakashvili, around $7.8 million has been stolen from Ukraine’s public funds last year

Mikheil Saakashvili ITAR-TASS/Sergey Fadeichev

Mikheil Saakashvili

© ITAR-TASS/Sergey Fadeichev

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KIEV, December 3 /TASS/. Mikhail Saakashvili, the governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region, said on Thursday that 120 billion hryvnias had been stolen from Ukraine’s public funds last year. He offered to expose Ukraine’s money plundering schemes.

"I would like to present a report of (Ukrainian) ministers about their activities to society and the cabinet of ministers and expose the scheme of annual plundering of state funds," Saakashvili, who is Georgia’s ex-president, told a news conference in Kiev devoted to privatization of the Ukrspirt enterprise on Thursday.

"120 billion hryvnias were stolen under the incumbent government’s mandate last year," Saakashvili said adding he would deliver a speech at Verkhovna Rada’s session if the cabinet of ministers refused to listen to him.

He also said he would disclose the names of senior bureaucrats involved in Ukraine’s corruption schemes at an anti-corruption forum in Odessa next Sunday.

Asked whether he will be offered a post in a new Ukrainian government, Saakashvili categorically denied this possibility.

"I do not want anything. I am not craving for any new posts. Therefore, l can openly express my opinion, which may be critical but are based on facts," the Odessa governor stressed.

On December 11, the Ukrainian government is going to submit a report to Verkhovna Rada (parliament) on its work in 2015.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in an interview with the Brussels-based publication Politico that he expected resignations in the government soon. According to analysts, the most likely candidates for dismissal include representatives of the Yatsenuk-led Ukrainian People’s Front - Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, Justice Minister Pavel Petrenko and Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Anna Onishchenko. Foreigners in the government may also come under a blow, primarily Health Minister Alexander Kvitashvili, who used to ask for his resignation in the past; and Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavi·ius.

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Ukraine crisis Mikhail Saakashvili

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