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Petro Poroshenko trial:  Key suspect says investigation forced him to testify against former president
Ukrainian businessman Serhiy Kuzyara  who, according to state investigation, was involved in controversial coal trading schemes in occupied Donbas back in 2014-2015 cleared the air on Petro Poroshenko’s role in the story.
Wednesday, 26 January 2022, 11:05

In his interview for Ekonomichna Pravda, Serhiy Kuzyara  called out the chief prosecutor’s office over evidence ‘manipulations’, claiming prosecutors made up the whole story to get Poroshenko indicted over  the coal supplies allegedly brokered through him personally along with  Viktor Medvedchuk, and former energy minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn.

‘The criminal case cites several [coal] contracts. One of those was about coal supplies from South Africa. According to investigators, Poroshenko pressed to have those supplies called off, and by doing so he made [Ukraine] dependent on Russia, DNR and LNR. It is nonsense!’

Serhiy Kuzyara is one of the key suspects in the criminal case in relation to 2014-2015 coal deals in occupied Donbas that allegedly saw local separatists  walk away with some 200 million hryvnas coming from the public purse.

Investigation offered him ‘freedom in return for evidence [on Poroshenko], said the businessman, arguing they openly admitted they looked for dirt  on the opposition leader.

‘None of them felt embarrassed about it. They told  they are interested in Poroshenko in the first place. They wanted any sort of information to tie him to this case. And to do so, not only they offered me [to cooperate] but pressed me.  [Getting] such evidence was the main reason they locked me up, yet I explained I will not go in discussion of no-one else’.

Investigation alleged Kuzyara’s connections in Donbas and past affiliation with Yanukovych family helped him arrange and oversee supplies from the coal mines that were by that time controlled by pro-Russian separatists. The businessman staunchly rejected such claims.

Last week, the businessman was released from jail after Kyiv Pecherskiy court agreed to putting him under house arrest.

 

 

Tags: coal contracts, investigation, Petro Poroshenko, Serhiy Kuzyara