Brussels, 15/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 15 April, the European Union froze the assets of a further four Ukrainian leading figures for embezzlement, including the former prime minister Serhiy Arbuzov. The former minister of revenue and charges, Oleksandr Klymenko, the former minister of energy and the coal industry, Edward Stavytskyi, and Yuriy Ivanyushchenko, a member of the party of the regions at the Ukrainian Parliament are also subject to an assets freeze in the EU. The sanctions have been imposed because the four are “subject to investigation in Ukraine for involvement in crimes in connection with the embezzlement of Ukrainian State funds and their illegal transfer outside Ukraine”, according to the Official Journal of 15 April. They are not banned from having visas to travel to the EU.
These people have just been added to 18 other figures - including the deposed president Viktor Yanukovych - on whom sanctions have already been imposed by the EU for the embezzlement of funds belonging to the Ukrainian state. (CG)