Pavel Lazarenko (see photo below) - former Ukrainian Prime Minister, Doctor of Economics. According to the UN, he stole about $ 200 million from the state treasury, and according to the Ukrainian administration - $ 320 million. He went to the United States to escape from justice. But you will not escape fate, as they say. There, Pavel Ivanovich was sentenced to 9 years in prison and a fine of $ 10 million for "abuse of finances." He spent 8 years in an American prison for money laundering and fraud.
Career
Pavel Lazarenko, whose biography will be presented in this article, was born in the village of Karpovka (Ukraine) in 1953. The father of the future politician was a gardener. In 1978, Lazarenko graduated from the Agricultural Institute in Dnepropetrovsk. In 1996 he became a doctor of economic sciences.
In 1985, he served as the 2nd Secretary of the CPSU District Committee. Since March 1992, he represented the interests of the president in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Two years later, Pavel Ivanovich was elected as a people's deputy. His official biography indicates that as a result of his work, almost without capital investments, some of the most neglected areas of the Dnepropetrovsk region - Yuryevsky and Sinelnikovsky - were revived. Pavel Lazarenko also organized the construction and launch of the metro in Dnepropetrovsk and completed about 50 long-term construction of the industrial and social sectors.
In September 1995, he became First Deputy Prime Minister, and a year later, Prime Minister of Ukraine. For a year of work in this position, Lazarenko introduced a state monopoly on excisable goods, conducted a monetary reform and introduced a national currency - the hryvnia.
Resignation
In July 1997, Pavel Ivanovich joined the opposition and began to speak negatively about the then president Leonid Kuchma. After 2 months, he took the place of the head of the opposition to the president of the Gromada party. In the 1998 elections to the Verkhovna Rada, she was able to overcome the 4% barrier, and Pavel Ivanovich headed the faction, becoming a deputy.
Accusation and escape from the country
In 1998, the politician was detained in Switzerland and charged with financial fraud. But later he was released on bail, and Pavel Lazarenko returned to Kiev. In early 1999, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine filed a petition with the Verkhovna Rada about depriving the politician of parliamentary immunity and his arrest. Only the socialists of A. Morozov and the Gromada party voted against this. After such results, the Gromada faction was closed, and its former members (Tymoshenko, Turchinov and others) immediately organized a new one - the Fatherland. This allowed Lazarenko to become an independent deputy, not included in any faction. The report of Prosecutor General M. Potebenko states: “Lazarenko illegally opened several foreign currency accounts totaling 4.5 million francs and $ 2 million. The total damage from the activities of the politician for the period from 1993 to 1997 amounted to $ 2 million."
Arrest
In February 1999, the former prime minister was detained in New York for violating the visa regime and trying to illegally enter the United States. Lazarenko asked the States for political asylum, but he was refused. And in 2000, the politician was charged with fraud, extortion and money laundering. Pavel Lazarenko transferred about $ 114 million to America. According to the UN, the amount of stolen funds is $ 200 million.
Court and sentence
The trial of Lazarenko began in mid-2001. A few months later, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine in absentia brought forward a series of new charges against Pavel Ivanovich - involvement in the organization of several contract killings, including Getman and Shcherban.
The US prosecutor's office demanded to recover a fine of $ 66 million from the politician and imprison him for 18 years. Lazarenko was in prison until 2003. And after paying a bail of $ 86 million, he was placed under house arrest. The trial itself took place in San Francisco, as the family of the politician had a ranch there. In 2006, $ 477 million was frozen (but not taken away) on Pavel Ivanovich’s personal accounts. In the same year, he was sentenced to 9 years in prison and a fine of $ 10 million. The judge reduced the amount of proven financial abuse to $ 5 million. scandalous episodes associated with the "Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine" (UESU). Lazarenko was left under house arrest until 2008. During this time, he repeatedly appealed until he had exhausted all the possibilities. Then the politician was sent to federal prison. In 2009, the judge decided to reduce his prison sentence.
The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly requested the United States to extradite Pavel Lazarenko to them, but America refused by the lack of an extradition treaty between the countries.
Personal life
Before the "move" to America, the politician was married to Tamara Lazarenko and raised two daughters and a son. And while already under investigation, he managed to conclude a civil marriage with a girl who is half his age, and even give birth to a son with her.
Oksana Tsikova, the granddaughter of the famous academician who headed the Corn Research Institute in Dnepropetrovsk, became Lazarenko's chosen one. Before moving to America, the girl was an activist of the youth wing of the Gromada. At that time, Pavel Ivanovich helped Oksana get a direction to study at one of the best Western universities. The fact that her benefactor was arrested, Tsikova learned in London. Like the wife of a Decembrist, she went after a man whom she infinitely respected. While Lazarenko was serving a term in a California prison, Oksana worked as a translator with his lawyers. During this time, her sympathies for the former boss only got stronger. Pavel Ivanovich experienced the same feelings. As a result, after transferring Lazarenko to house arrest, exactly 9 months later, Tsikova gave birth to his son Ivan.
Interestingly, this fact was hidden from the general public. The likely reason is Lazarenko’s unexploited marriage with his legal wife. The role of an unfaithful spouse could adversely affect the political career of Pavel Ivanovich, with which he tried to reanimate. But, judging by the rumors, his wife Tamara does not get bored at all and meets with the former politician driver. If this is true, then the conscience of the ex-prime minister is absolutely clear.
Pavel Lazarenko and Yulia Tymoshenko
In the indictment, this couple is listed as "accomplices." The thing is in the lawsuit, which was published by the US prosecutor. It contains detailed information on the transfer of finances from the accounts of companies controlled by Yulia Tymoshenko to the foreign piggy banks of the former prime minister.
In addition, Pavel Lazarenko received from Tymoshenko $ 162 million - this is the largest part of his American funds. The lawsuit stated that in 1996, the policy was transferred $ 84 million from the company Smalley Enterprises and another $ 65 million from United Energy. A year later, UESU transferred Lazarenko $ 13 million. All these firms are directly related to Yulia Vladimirovna. This is evidenced by the document of the General Prosecutor of the United States. The reliability of the data was confirmed by the FBI special agent Debra Laprevott, who investigated the case of the fraud of Pavel Lazarenko. If charges on UESU debts prove, then Tymoshenko faces 12 years in prison. And despite the fact that we are talking about the 1996 case, the statute of limitations of the article has not yet expired.
