Shortly before the killing of Ukrainian parliamentarian Yevhen Scherban some printed publications reported his alleged involvement in an attempt on the life of then Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Lazarenko, although Scherban's associates rejected the allegations, according to the information in Interfax-Ukraine archives.
In mid-October 1996, Estonian newspaper Sinumileht published an article about Scherban's alleged organization of an attempt on Lazarenko's life. The article was later reprinted by the newspapers Izvestia and Pravda Ukrainy.
On October 17, 1996, Viktor Ampilohov, the deputy head of the Social and Market Choice faction at the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, told a press conference in Kyiv that the faction intended "to protect in court the honor and dignity of its member – Ukrainian MP Yevhen Scherban."
Ampilohov also read aloud the faction's official statement on the issue, saying that the publication was "slanderous and offensive." The faction demanded that the newspaper and the author of the article officially refute the information and apologize for it.
"It is unacceptable to use slander and discrediting in political conflicts," the faction said.
Ampilohov also said that he had evidence proving that people that were spreading "the slanderous reports" about leaders of the Liberal Party of Ukraine "initiated murders," "embezzled public funds and carried out illegal currency transactions."
He refused to call the names of those people and their "territorial belonging" explaining the refusal by "the secrecy of an investigation." According to Ampilohov, all of the evidence was passed to the prosecutor's office.
On October 21, 1996, former head of Estonian JSC Kolser, Oleksandr Morhun, told a press conference in Donetsk that the publications were aimed at "removal of Donetsk economic structures close to Scherban from the political and economic arena." The article in the newspapers read that Morhun was Scherban's companion in the organization of an attempt on Lazarenko's life.
Morhun confirmed that he really headed JSC Kolser and Scherban was the company's co-founder.
Morhun said that the accusations of being involved in a terror act were absurd. He noted that neither Estonian, nor Ukrainian police contacted him regarding the terror act.
According to Morhun, a number of business structures linked with Scherban underwent checks that disturbed their work.
Morhun also said that the publication of the articles in the press was initiated by certain economic structures "presumably from Dnipropetrovsk" that tried to make Donetsk enterprises leave the Ukrainian market.
Scherban was shot dead on November 3, 1996.
