Pechersky court refuses to arrest Yushchenko's property

"Yesterday [on July 9], judge of the Pechersky District Court Viacheslav Pidpalyi refused to grant a petition of the Prosecutor General's Office regarding the arrest of real estate and land plots of former President Viktor Yushchenko," he said.

At the same, Horbatiuk added that the court ruling did not include a reasoning part, that is, the judge did not explain why he rejected the petition.

Earlier, the Prosecutor General's Office approved a notice of suspicion for former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko as part of the case concerning the Mezhyhiria residence that was withdrawn from state ownership in 2007.

MP Serhiy Leshchenko said on June 6 that Yushchenko had been declared a suspect in the appropriation, embezzlement or possession of property by abuse of office.

Leshchenko claimed that Yushchenko, allegedly in a conspiracy with former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, deliberately transferred the Mezhyhiria residence from the State Affairs Department to management by the Cabinet of Ministers. The government, in turn, according to the MP, transferred Mezhyhiria to the state-owned enterprise Nadra Ukrainy, and the latter withdrew the residence from state ownership in favor of a fictitious Donetsk-based company. Yanukovych then began to build a personal estate in Mezhyhiria.

At the same time, Yushchenko rejected the accusation.

Yushchenko also accused the PGO investigator, who approved the notice of suspicion about Mezhyhiria, of a conflict of interest.

Yushchenko, the third president of Ukraine, was in office from January 23, 2005, to February 25, 2010.

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