Jewelry, Cash Seized at Former Ukrainian Ministers' Offices

The Ukrainian prosecutor general's office has conducted 32 searches at the firms connected with ex-energy and coal-industry minister Eduard Stavytskyy and ex-agrarian policy and food minister Mykola Prisyazhnyuk. Jewelry and millions of dollars in cash were seized. The chief accountant of the firms controlled by Stavytskyy was detained, Rapaport reported citing Interfax.
"When a search was being conducted in an apartment, formerly owned by Stavytskyy and, from March 15, by a legal entity, two safes and files of documents were discovered. A woman was caught in the act of destroying documents. Police had to use force after the woman offered resistance," acting prosecutor general Oleh Mahnytskiy said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Saturday.
"Two safes and files of documents were seized. One of the safes was virtually stuffed with cash worth about $5 million. The other safe was filled with 50 kilograms of gold in bars and jewels with gold, platinum and diamonds," he said.
The documents and valuable found will be held as material evidence, he added.
The searches were conducted in cooperation with the police and the national security service, he said. "This cooperation is yielding results," Mahnytskiy said.
Asked why the searches had not been conducted earlier, he said that it had taken time to track down the addresses and to secure a court order. Searches were conducted in all offices simultaneously. Deputy prosecutor general Olexiy Bahanets spoke about the searches, conducted in Prisyazhnyuk's apartment.
"About $300 and around UAH 800,000, plus several thousand euros in cash were confiscated," he said.
Another search, conducted in the apartment of a former high-raking policy  official close to Stavytskyy, produced $1.7 million, UAH 1.4 million, and several thousand euros in cash, he said.
"The finding also includes fake income declarations. This man was to fly to Turkey with these valuables yesterday," he added.
"The former civil servants managed to transfer a larger share of their assets to foreign bank accounts. What was found in the searches was cashed-in assets. We think the cash had been taken out of the country in bags in several flights," the deputy prosecutor general said.
The prosecutor general declined to announce Stavytskyy's whereabouts, citing secrecy and confidentiality reasons.
Interim interior minister Arsen Avakov added that searches at Naftogaz Ukrainy CEO Yevhen Bakulin's offices and apartments "lasted all night long. Interesting things were discovered. We will announce the results of the searches when the Prosecutor General's Office allows," he said.
"Those were the first steps on the difficult path of cutting the corruption chain. We hope to work together publicly, to put an end to corruption and to teach a good lesson to all," he said.
After the press briefing the speakers demonstrated seized bundles of cash, gold bars, jewelry and a large number of wrist watches.