Pavel Lazarenko (photo below) is a 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. To escape from justice, he left for the United States. But you can't 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 served 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 2nd secretary of the district committee of the CPSU. Since March 1992, he represented the interests of the president in the Dnepropetrovsk region. Two years later, Pavel Ivanovich was elected a people's deputy. His official biography states that as a result of his work, almost withoutcapital investments, one of the most neglected districts 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 projects in the industrial and social sectors.
In September 1995 he became First Deputy Prime Minister, and a year later - Prime Minister of Ukraine. During the year of work in this position, Lazarenko introduced a state monopoly on excisable goods, carried out a monetary reform and introduced a national currency - the hryvnia.
Resignation
In July 1997, Pavel Ivanovich went into opposition and began to speak negatively about the then President Leonid Kuchma. After 2 months, he took the place of the head of the Gromada party, which is opposed to the president. In the 1998 elections to the Verkhovna Rada, she was able to overcome the 4% barrier, and Pavel Ivanovich led the faction, becoming a deputy.
Accused and flee the country
In 1998, the politician was detained in Switzerland and accused of financial fraud. But later he was released on bail, and Pavel Lazarenko returned to Kyiv. In early 1999, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine filed a petition with the Verkhovna Rada to deprive the politician of parliamentary immunity and arrest him. Only the socialists A. Morozov and the Gromada party voted against this. After such results, the Gromada faction was closed, and its former members (Tymoshenko, Turchynov, and others) immediately organized a new one - Batkivshchyna. This allowed Lazarenko to become an independent deputy who is not a member of any faction. Report of the Prosecutor General M. Potebenkoreads: “Lazarenko illegally opened several foreign currency accounts for a total of 4.5 million francs and 2 million dollars. 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 United States for political asylum, but he was denied. 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.
Trial and sentence
The trial of Lazarenko began in mid-2001. A few months later, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine brought forward in absentia a number of new charges against Pavel Ivanovich - of involvement in organizing several contract killings, including Hetman and Shcherban.
US Attorney's Office demanded a fine of $66 million from the politician and imprison him for 18 years. Lazarenko was in a correctional facility until 2003. And after paying bail of $ 86 million, he was placed under house arrest. The trial itself took place in San Francisco, since the politician's family had a ranch there. In 2006, $ 477 million were frozen (but not taken away) from 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. Also, the most scandalous episodes related to the UnitedEnergy Systems of Ukraine” (UESU). Lazarenko was kept under house arrest until 2008. During this time, he repeatedly filed appeals until he exhausted all possibilities. Then the politician was sent to federal prison. In 2009, the judge decided to reduce his prison term.
Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly asked the United States to extradite Pavel Lazarenko, but America refused due to the lack of an extradition agreement between the countries.
Private life
Before "moving" to America, the politician was married to Tamara Lazarenko and raised two daughters and a son. And already under investigation, he managed to enter into a civil marriage with a girl who is half his age, and even give birth to a son with her.
Lazarenko's chosen one was Oksana Tsikova, the granddaughter of a famous academician who headed the Maize Research Institute in Dnepropetrovsk. Before moving to America, the girl was an activist in the youth wing of Hromada. At that time, Pavel Ivanovich helped Oksana get a referral to study at one of the best Western universities. The fact that her benefactor was arrested, Tsikova found out in London. Like the wife of a Decembrist, she went for a man whom she respected immensely. While Lazarenko was serving time in a California prison, Oksana worked as a translator with his lawyers. During this time, her sympathy for the former boss only grew stronger. Pavel Ivanovich experienced the same feelings. As a result, after the transfer of Lazarenko under house arrest exactly 9 months later, Tsikova gave birth to his son Ivan.
Interestingly, from the general public thisthe fact was hidden. The probable reason is the undissolved marriage of Lazarenko with his legal wife. The role of the unfaithful spouse could have a bad effect on the political career of Pavel Ivanovich, with which he tried to revive. But, judging by the rumors, his wife Tamara is not bored at all and meets with the politician's former driver. If this is true, then the conscience of the ex-prime minister is absolutely clear.
Pavel Lazarenko and Yulia Tymoshenko
The indictment lists the pair as "accomplices". It's all about the lawsuit, which was made public by the US prosecutor's office. It contains detailed information about the transfer of funds from the accounts of companies controlled by Yulia Tymoshenko to foreign "piggy banks" of the former prime minister.
Besides this, Pavel Lazarenko received $162 million from Tymoshenko, the largest part of his American funds. The lawsuit states that in 1996 the politician received $84 million from Smalley Enterprises and another $65 million from United Energy. And a year later, UESU transferred $ 13 million to Lazarenko. All these firms are directly related to Yulia Vladimirovna. This is evidenced by the document of the Attorney General of the United States. The reliability of the data was confirmed by FBI special agent Debra Laprevott, who investigated the case of the machinations of Pavel Lazarenko. If the accusations on the debts of the UESU prove, then Tymoshenko faces 12 years in prison. And despite the fact that we are talking about a 1996 case, the article has not yet expired.
Where is Pavel Lazarenko now?
On November 1, 2012, the politician served his term and was handed over to the immigration services to resolve the issue of his further stay in the country. Pavel Ivanovich was sent to a prison for immigrants in California. A week later, Ukrinform reported that the politician had left the place. Where he was transferred, no one knows. And on the websites of customs and immigration control, which give out information about the detainees, such a name as Pavel Lazarenko no longer appears. No one knows where the former prime minister lives now.
