UKRAINE'S LEADERS FALL OUT OVER CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS
By Tom Warner in Kiev

FT
September 6 2005 03:00

The political team that led Ukraine through last winter's Orange
Revolution was on the verge of splitting yesterday as President
Viktor Yushchenko's chief of staff said he was resigning because of
corruption within the president's inner circle.

Olexander Zinchenko, who headed Mr Yushchenko's election campaign,
called on the president to sack his national security council
secretary, Petro Poroshenko, and his first aide, Olexander Tretyakov,
whom Mr Zinchenko accused of "cynically realising their plan to
utilise authority to their own purposes".

He told a press conference: "I can't and I don't want to put up with
this outrage towards the law."

Mr Zinchenko's departure comes amid an increasingly public dispute
between Mr Yushchenko and his prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, who is
widely believed to be preparing to head her own, separate electoral
list for parliamentary elections next March in case Mr Yushchenko
indicates he does not want her back as premier after the March vote.

Mr Yushchenko in recent months has increasingly turned to Mr Poroshenko
and a group of his allies, including Mr Tretyakov, for personnel and
policy decisions.

Mr Poroshenko, clearly on the defensive, surprised onlookers and
arrived uninvited at Mr Zinchenko's press conference.

After Mr Zinchenko left the press conference, Mr Poroshenko refuted
the departing chief of staff's accusations. Mr Zinchenko, he said,
had not explained or backed up his claims with any evidence, and Mr
Zinchenko should have helped "bring those involved in corruption to
justice", instead of making "unproven political accusations".

The dispute between Mr Yushchenko and Ms Tymoshenko has been
exacerbated as different groups of businessmen seeking to gain control
of key industrial and media assets have allied themselves to one or
other political camp.

Last week, Mr Yushchenko sharply criticised Ms Tymoshenko for her
handling of a court battle in which the government is seeking to
reverse the 2003 privatisation and sale of a big metallurgy plant,
Nikopol Ferroalloy, to Viktor Pinchuk, the son-in-law of former
president Leonid Kuchma.

Mr Yushchenko backed the reversal, but criticised Ms Tymoshenko for
helping another prominent local businessman, Igor Kolomoysky, who
owns a minority stake, increase his influence at the company prior
to the new auction.

Ms Tymoshenko has insisted her actions were correct and legal. Mr
Kolomoysky, in recent interviews, accused Mr Poroshenko of trying
to halt the reversal of the sale and of seeking to allow Mr Pinchuk
to sell his stake to Russian oligarchs. Mr Poroshenko has strongly
denied such intent.

Mr Zinchenko's accusations come after Ms Tymoshenko has increasingly
complained that aides to the Ukrainian president were favouring
certain businessmen and seeking to enrich themselves.