Pavlo Lazarenko
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Pavlo Ivanovych Lazarenko (Ukrainian: Павло Іванович Лазаренко, b. January 23, 1953) was a Ukrainian politician and former Prime Minister who earned a notorious reputation for corruption and money-laundering. In addition, Lazarenko may have been behind several assassinations, including the murder of banker Vadym Hetman in 1998.
Early career
Under President Leonid Kravchuk, Lazarenko served as the presidential representative in Dnipropetrovsk region. Although Lazarenko sided with incumbent Kravchuk in the 1994 elections, he managed to establish close ties with the election winner, Leonid Kuchma. President Kuchma initially reappointed Lazarenko as the head of the state administration of Dnipropetrovsk region and, later, promoted him to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.Prime Minister
Lazarenko was appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine by President Kuchma on May 28, 1996. A peculiar fact about the appointment is that it was never considered by the Verkhovna Rada (parliament). At that time, the right to unilaterally appoint the Prime Minister was vested with the President under a provisional constitutional agreement.Early in his career as PM, Lazarenko survived an attempt on his life when a bomb exploded near his blocked car en route from Kyiv to Boryspil airport.
While in charge of the Cabinet, Lazarenko reportedly exercized control over many lucrative business projects and charged 50 percent of profits for his patronage. At that time, he maintained a close business relationship with Yulia Tymoshenko, then the CEO of Yedyni Energosystemy Ukrayiny (United Energy Systems of Ukraine), a monopoly that imported Russian natural gas.
Lazarenko was involved in a prolonged and bitter struggle for economic domination with the emerging "Donetsk clan" (an industrial group based in Donetsk). He might have been behind the 1996 assassination of Yevhen Shcherban, a parliamentary member and one of the "Donetsk clan" leaders.
He may have also plotted against Oleksandr Volkov, a close associate of President Kuchma. Reportedly, Volkov became aware of the planned assassination and made a phone call to Lazarenko threatening adequate revenge.
By mid-1997, Lazarenko had fallen out of favor with Kuchma, who suspected him of making plans to run for presidency in 1999. Kuchma later regretted Lazarenko's appointment as "my gravest mistake".
Lazarenko, who had no previous record of serious illness, was unexpectedly hospitalized in late June, 1997. He most likely spent the two weeks of his alleged sickness leave in vain attempts to mend fences with Kuchma. Technically, under the Ukrainian labor code law, a hospitalized individual may not be fired. However, when his dismissal became imminent, Lazarenko resigned on July 2, 1997, on his own initiative. Thus far, he remains the only Prime Minister who formally resigned at his will.
Imprisonments and trials
Lazarenko was elected to the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) in March, 1998, where he headed the parliamentary faction of his political party "Hromada". "Hromada" frequently sided with the parliamentary faction of Oleksandr Moroz.In December, 1998, Lazarenko was detained on money-laundering charges as he crossed by car from France into Switzerland. In a few weeks, he was released on bail in the amount of three million dollars.
Meanwhile, details of his arrest in Switzerland led to a political scandal in Ukraine. Apparently, Lazarenko attempted to cross the Swiss border with a valid Panama passport even though the Ukrainian law prohibits double citizenship.
The public uproar was, in part, instigated by Kuchma's administration who pressed for Lazarenko's arrest. The parliament finally granted assent to waive Lazarenko's parliamentary immunity on February 17, 1999. However, Lazarenko fled the country on the eve of the parliamentary vote.
He initially stopped in Greece, but was later detained in the New York JFK airport on February 20 on suspicion of illegally entering the United States. Reportedly, Lazarenko had a stack of documents with him, including a Ukrainian diplomatic passport with an outdated U.S. visa, and requested political asylum.
Subsequently, Lazarenko was transferred to a jail in San Francisco, since his family owned a ranch in California. In 2000, the Ukrainian authorities requested his extradition after charging him over the 1996 killing of Yevhen Shcherban and two attempts on the lives of high-ranking officials. The office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine also claimed that Lazarenko instigated the assassination of Vadym Hetman in late April, 1998.
However, Lazarenko was put on trial for money-laundering, corruption, and fraud in the U.S. In late May, 2004, a federal jury in San Francisco found him guilty of using his position to get rich through a series of business schemes. As of October 2005, his case is still under appeal. Also in October 2005 he stated intentions of returning to Ukraine and running in the March 2006 parliamentary elections.
"I will certainly return to Ukraine, and hope to run for Parliament; already, our party has been formed, and we will be taking part in elections".
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