Sunday, February 18, 2007

It took Taras Ratushnyi a few weeks and two articles in Ukrainska Pravda (UKR, here and here) to have his TV station, NTN, finally air this story (RUS) on land theft by Kyiv City Council's majority deputies:

Kyiv City Council deputy Volodymyr Bondarenko recalls last year's Pushcha Vodytsya land scandal and says that the practice of giving out land plots by ex-mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko now looks like an innocent joke.

Volodymyr Bondarenko, Kyiv City Council deputy: "Deputies gather, divide what's available among themselves, and go back home... Hence such desperateness, sessions held at night, barricades - all this is caused by the desire to present themselves with New Year's gifts."

Mikhail Brodsky, Kyiv City Council deputy: "Why aren't you voting? I haven't been given a land plot. Okay, we're giving it to you - vote. And this is how they get more votes. And all this is taking place in the session hall."

[...]

Representatives of the Voice of Kyiv's Community [NGO] claim that deputies from [mayor] Chernovetsky's Bloc and those from the Party of the Regions have received nearly the same amounts of land. Lytvyn's Bloc and [Kyiv's Communal Active] have gotten somewhat less. Plus, there are deputies who don't belong to any faction - they leave the oppositional parties and receive land plots right away. Mainly for construction of residential buildings, but also for shopping centers, hotels and restaurants.

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