Former State Guard Department Major Mykola Melnychenko has stated that he will give to the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) tapes with information on the murder of MP Yevhen Scherban in 1996.

"They exist, [they contain] records about payment for the murder," Melnychenko said in an interview with the Segodnya daily newspaper published in the Friday issue.

He also denied allegations that he had hidden some recording devices. According to the ex-major, Dictaphones, a remote control station, and original chips with records were passed to the PGO four years ago. A television remote control, in which a bug was built in, was passed to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. With its help Melnychenko listened to and recorded conversations of second Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. There were also "more than two" dictaphones. According to the ex-major, the PGO has not received all of them, but most of them.

While commenting on the $2 million that he allegedly received from Kuchma for his silence on the journalist Georgy Gongadze murder case, Melnychenko said that he has the money, and he knows where it has been kept since 2004, and he has access to it. According to the ex-major, if the future trial requires it as material evidence, he is ready to give it to the court.

Melnychenko also expressed dissatisfaction with coordination of investigatory procedures by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the PGO.

"I have been sitting here [at the PGO at Borysohlibska Street] since 1000, and I have another questioning scheduled for 1500 at the SBU. And I also need to undergo a seven-day treatment course as I have had a stroke," he said.

While explaining the reason for his return to Ukraine, Melnychenko said: "I want the court finally to evaluate my actions [recording of the president's conversations]. I insist on the holding of an open trial."

The ex-major also said he was worried that he was being spied on. He noted that his lawyers have asked the investigator to check who is spying on him and whether he is involved in some investigation.

In addition, Melnychenko appealed against the ruling of Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky District Court to forbid him to leave his place of residence without asking for permission from the investigator, to oblige him to report his place of residence, and to submit his foreign passports for storing

At the same time, Melnychenko did not answer a question about his current place of residence.

In November 2000, a scandal broke in Ukraine after the parliament announced there were audio recordings allegedly made by Melnychenko in the office of then President Leonid Kuchma. Melnychenko was charged with divulging state secrets, exceeding his powers and using forged documents.

In September 2011, Melnychenko was put on the wanted list. A court in Kyiv ordered that he be remanded in custody, as Melnychenko had skipped bail and absconded.

Melnychenko was arrested in Italy on August 3. On August 14, an appellate court in Naples decided to release him.

On September 14, 2012 Melnychenko told a briefing in the United States that, on sensational audio tapes published by him, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko was named as the person who had commissioned Scherban's murder, and that Petro Kyrychenko, a business partner of Lazarenko, and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, had paid for the crime.

Melnychenko was detained at Kyiv's Boryspil International Airport on October 24, where he had arrived on a flight from New York.

On October 26, Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky District Court released him on bail of UAH 76,500, which is around $9,600.

On the same day, Melnychenko's defense lawyer, Mykola Nedilko, said: "We will appeal against this ruling, as we asked to put a travel ban on him. This is the optimal measure of restraint. We did not ask for a bail, because releasing a person on bail who returned voluntarily would not be a correct ruling."