Ukraine Probes $1 Billion Scam

KIEV, Ukraine -- Prosecutors are investigating how $1 Billion of private and public funds were taken out of Ukraine during last year's Orange Revolution, said officials on Wednesday.



Spokesperson Oleksiy Bebel said six criminal cases had been launched in connection with the capital flight, which occurred last November and December at the mass protests that came to be known as the Orange Revolution.

He did not identify the targets of the probe and said most of the money was private capital acquired illegally.

Anna Tsyhanenko, a money-laundering investigator with the prosecutor general's office, said high profile Ukrainians officials were being investigated, but she refused to identify them.

Tsyhanenko said the money was taken out of the country through banks and other financial institutions involved different schemes. She did not elaborate.

The Orange Revolution protests for election fraud led to a presidential revote, won by then-opposition leader and anti-corruption crusader Viktor Yushchenko.

His government earlier complained about a mass exodus of money by officials then in power and their wealthy backers as the opposition came to power.

Source: News24