14:08 08.08.2015

Ex-minister Shevchenko says there are no criminal proceedings against him

2 min read
Ex-minister Shevchenko says there are no criminal proceedings against him

Former Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ihor Shevchenko has said that the Interior Ministry has not opened criminal proceedings against him and accused MP Oleh Liashko of lies and slander.

"The document that Liashko posted on his Facebook page indicates only the information abut the case on Liashko's false statements about me was entered into the register (Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations). There is no case against me. I was also invited to the Internal Affairs Ministry as a witness in this matter and I provided all the explanations and documents to prove my innocence," Shevchenko said on his "Facebook" page on Saturday.

The ex-minister also added that this case has no prospects and "is nothing but a continuation of political persecution, which is carried out against me at an order of [Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy] Yatseniuk."

At the same time, Shevchenko posted a copy of the document about the Interior Ministry's submitting to the Prosecutor General's Office the report on "the false statements" by Liashko against him.

Also, he posted a document about the institution of proceedings against Liashko in Pechersky District Court in Kyiv.

As reported, Liashko, a Ukrainian parliamentarian and the leader of the Radical Party, said on he was summoned for questioning to the Interior Ministry's main investigative department as a witness in a criminal case that has been opened based on Liashko's report against former Ukrainian Environment Protection and Natural Resources Minister Ihor Shevchenko on suspicion of illegal enrichment.

Liashko posted a scanned copy of the summons signed by Oleksandr Vakulenko, the chief of the Interior Ministry's main investigative department, on his Facebook account on Friday.

It was reported earlier that on July 2, the Verkhovna Rada had supported the government's recommendation on Shevchenko's dismissal. "This decision has been dictated by the fact that the Natural Resources Ministry, as a central executive government body, has become unmanageable and is failing to perform the state's basic functions and duties in the environmental protection field," the government press service said. In addition, it said Shevchenko had repeatedly violated the law during his ministerial service.

The minister failed to arrange the targeted and efficient disbursement of funds provided by the EU as a sectoral budget support to carry out measures envisioned by the national action plan on environmental protection for 2011-2015, it said.

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