Demjanjuk Sues U.S. for $5 M in Damages IMF Says Kyiv Supplied
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INSIDE:• Developments in Belarus — page 3. • PACE threatens to suspend Ukraine — page 4. • Ukrainian Canadian’s design selected for new coin — page 9. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXVIII HE KRAINIANNo. 12 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 2000 EEKLY$1.25/$2 in Ukraine DemjanjukT sues U.S.U81 killed in coal mine explosionW near Krasnodon by Roman Woronowycz for $5 M in damages Kyiv Press Bureau by Roma Hadzewycz KYIV – In the largest calamity to hit Ukraine since independence, 81 miners PARSIPPANY, N.J. – John Demjanjuk – were killed on March 11 after a methane who once faced the death sentence on explosion tore through the Barakova charges of being the notorious Nazi death mine in the eastern Ukrainian city of camp guard known as “Ivan the Terrible” Krasnodon, again underscoring the dire but was cleared by the Supreme Court of situation of Ukraine’s coal mining indus- Israel – filed a lawsuit on March 3, claim- try. ing the U.S. government’s investigation of Preliminary reports suggest that the him dating back to 1977 amounts to torture. blast in the Luhansk Oblast was a result The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, of gross violations of safety requirements seeks at least $5 million in damages from and may be directly tied to welding oper- the U.S. government and asks that a new ations that were taking place as the min- case filed against Mr. Demjanjuk last year by the Justice Department and its Nazi- ers worked. hunting Office of Special Investigations be At the time of the explosion, 91 min- dismissed. ers were in the area, while 277 workers Contacted by The Ukrainian Weekly for were in the mine. Seven people remain a comment on this latest twist in the case, hospitalized with burns and trauma Edward Nishnic, spokesman for the injuries, four of them critically. Demjanjuk family, would say only: “At this President Leonid Kuchma immediate- time we cannot comment, according to our ly canceled a trip to Poland and Prime lawyer.” Minister Viktor Yuschenko delayed his Mr. Demjanjuk’s suit was filed as a visit to the United States to attend mass response and a counterclaim to the U.S. funerals that took place March 13-14, Justice Department complaint filed on May which were declared national days of 19, 1999, which seeks to once again revoke mourning. Mr. Demjanjuk’s U.S. citizenship on the President Kuchma, speaking in Lviv grounds that he illegally gained entry into on his way back to Kyiv from a short the United States and illegally gained U.S. vacation in the Carpathian Mountains, citizenship because he concealed his serv- said the situation in the coal industry ice as a Nazi camp guard. needs to be examined and revamped. The Justice Department complaint “We have no right to allow what is Efrem Lukatsky alleges that, after being trained at the Nazis’ going on in the coal industry to contin- ue,” said President Kuchma, according to Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko, (second from left), leans towards a coffin as Trawniki Training Camp, Mr. Demjanjuk he pays his last respects to one of the miners killed in a methane explosion at the served as a guard in Lublin, the Landed (Continued on page 8) Barakova mine near Krasnodon. Estate Okzow, the Majdanek and Flossenberg concentration camps, and the Sobibor death camp. The U.S. government suit also seeks “a judgment forever restraining and enjoining IMF says Kyiv supplied misleading information on financial reserves defendant [Mr. Demjanjuk] from claiming by Roman Woronowycz Ukrainian economy afloat, have led to a the international auditing firm of any rights, privileges, benefits or advan- Kyiv Press Bureau call by a top U.S. official in the Clinton PricewaterhouseCoopers. tages under any document evidencing administration for a complete investiga- Among the charges are that $360 mil- United States citizenship.” KYIV – Just as Ukraine completed a tion. lion was lent to commercial banks in The Demjanjuk defense, which is being successful foreign debt restructuring on According to the Associated Press, Ukraine only to be redeposited with the handled by the Tigar Law Firm of March 15 that it hoped would allow the Edwin M. Truman, assistant treasury sec- central bank, which then once again Washington, did not answer the complaint, International Monetary Fund to grant it a retary for international affairs said the counted the deposit as part of its reserve. but on July 30, 1999, filed a motion to dis- badly needed financial help, the interna- United States was “deeply concerned” It is also alleged that some $275 mil- miss the case on such grounds as prejudice tional organization threw a large wrench with the revelations. lion was deposited illegally in foreign to Mr. Demjanjuk and issues of double in the country’s plans when it announced The National Bank of Ukraine has banks to stimulate artificial demand for jeopardy. This year, on February 17, Judge it had discovered that Kyiv had been sup- been embroiled in controversy since a government bonds and treasury bills. An Paul R. Matia of the U.S. District Court for plying it with misleading information on series of articles appeared in the additional $300 million is believed to the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern the state of its financial reserves – to the Financial Times alleging gross impropri- have been involved in credit swaps and Division, denied the Demjanjuk defense’s tune of nearly $1 billion. eties and unethical procedures in the cen- options. motion to dismiss. “On the basis of the information cur- tral bank’s financial dealings. The most Although Ukraine had earlier told the In new legal documents filed on March 3 rently available to the IMF staff, it notable was an allegation by a person IMF that certain inconsistencies in the – an answer and counterclaim to the U.S. appears that a numbers of transactions in close to former Ukrainian Prime Minister numbers were a result of the old Soviet government’s 1999 complaint – Mr. 1996-1998 gave the impression that Pavlo Lazarenko that some $613 million accounting system used until recently in Demjanjuk’s attorney, Jane Blanksteen Ukraine’s reserves were larger than was in IMF loans had been embezzled in Ukraine, after the allegations were lev- Tigar, denied all the charges against her actually the case,” stated an IMF state- December 1997 – $200 million of which eled officially it released a statement call- client. She said he was forced to work as a ment released late on March 14. It went were alleged to have been diverted to the ing the charges serious. laborer after being taken prisoner by the on to say that the international financial private accounts of politicians close to Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko, who Nazis in May 1942. organization would not have disbursed the president. led the NBU until his appointment as The attorney argued in her March 3 fil- three previous tranches had the true state The NBU and the IMF agreed at that head of government in December of last ing that “the [U.S. government’s] com- of the currency reserves been known. time that an independent private auditing year, was not, however, ready to admit plaint is filed for vindictive purposes, in The allegations, which suggest that firm should audit the bank’s books. An guilt on the part of the NBU. “We held order to retaliate unlawfully against Mr. Ukraine may have manipulated its for- Interfax-Ukraine press release stated that six audits two years ago and made all the eign reserve fund to convince IMF offi- the basis for the latest allegations came (Continued on page 9) cials to release loans needed to keep the from the audit, which was carried out by (Continued on page 8) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 2000 No. 12 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS Is Ukraine now a buffer IMF says Ukraine provided incorrect data the Communist Party, devoid of autonomy and forced to play obediently according to KYIV – The International Monetary the rules of older Communist comrades.” Fund has said that the National Bank of A day earlier, Mr. Starynets told journalists between NATO and Russia? Ukraine misled fund experts about the size by Jan Maksymiuk and servicemen from countries partici- that the new organization will back of its reserves, as a result of which the Ukraine’s statehood. He did not rule out RFE/RL Poland, Belarus and Ukraine Report pating in the Partnership for Peace pro- IMF lent money that it might otherwise gram in Ukraine, as well as the Open that it might propose the creation of a Last week’s session of the NATO- have withheld, Reuters reported on 14 “new type” of Communist Party. (RFE/RL Skies Treaty, which allows its signato- March. “It appears that a number of trans- Ukraine Commission in Kyiv, in which ries to monitor each other’s territory Newsline) NATO Secretary-General George actions in 1996-1998 gave the impression from the air. Both agreements give a that Ukraine’s reserves were larger than Symonenko: Kuchma seeks to split CPU Robertson and the alliance’s 19 ambas- boost to Ukraine’s cooperation with the sadors participated, highlighted the was actually the case,” an IMF statement alliance and may also result in financial noted. The National Bank of Ukraine said KYIV – Communist Party of Ukraine importance that both sides attach to dividends for Kyiv. First, the Yavoriv leader Petro Symonenko told Interfax on cooperation under the Special the same day that its foreign debt pay- military range (in Lviv Oblast) may ments, methods of channeling its foreign March 13 that the Ukrainian Communist Partnership Charter.