LPR leader suspends two ministers
LUHANSK. Oct 18 (Interfax) - The leader of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), Igor Plotnitsky, has suspended LPR fuel and energy minister Dmitry Lyamin and state security minister Leonid Pasechnik.
"On October 17 officers from the LPR state security ministry arrested LPR fuel and energy minister Dmitry Lyamin. The operation to apprehend and arrest him was carried out in breach of the existing LPR laws, without the LPR leader and government's knowledge," Plotnitsky said.
"Now that Ukrainian oligarch Serhiy Kurchenko has lost his gas monopoly, many public representatives are seeing Dmitry Lyamin's arrest as being motivated by Kurchenko's revenge. Whether or not these suspicions are fair is for an ad hoc parliamentary commission to find out," Plotnitsky said.
The decision to arrest Lyamin has been revoked for the duration of the parliamentary inquiry, the LPR leader said.
"To ensure an objective inquiry, throughout its period LPR state security minister Leonid Pasechnik and LPR fuel, energy and coal industry ministry Dmitry Lyamin will be suspended from office and replaced by their deputies as acting ministers. Upon completion of the parliamentary and prosecutors' inquiry, a final decision will be made on the degree of responsibility of these officials," the LPR leader said.
The ministry spokesperson announced Lyamin's arrest a day earlier.
"On October 17, within the framework of the criminal inquiry into activity of officials exceeding rights and powers vested in them by the LPR law and causing substantial violations of rights and lawful interests of the public and the state, i.e. a crime specified by Part 1, Article 354 of the LPR Criminal Code, officers of the LPR State Security Ministry and Interior Ministry detained LPR Fuel, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Dmitry Lyamin with the consent of republican head Igor Plotnitsky," the Luhansk information center has quoted the State Security Ministry's report as saying.
The republican police said the minister was involved in corruptive practices and connections "aimed to undermine the economy and the administrative system of the LPR."
"Having criminally conspired with the right-hand man of Ukrainian crime lord Yura Yenakiyevsky, I. Avramov, Lyamin strictly followed the instructions of crime lords to smuggle coal and to put under control of the mob strategic fuel and energy enterprises of the republic," the report said.
The criminal activity of Lyamin was particularly wide spread in the field of coal mining, it said. "In the period from January till September 2015 the minister illegally sold 3 300 284 tonnes of coal to Ukraine, which was over 88% of the entire amount of coal mined and sold by the republic. He was conducting his frauds through companies he controlled, which had no registration and did not pay taxes to the budget," the ministry said.
"The criminal activity of Lyamin inflicted about 350 million ruble damages on the LPR economy. Besides, the aforesaid enterprises accounted for 75-80% of railroad transit in the republic without paying the railroad tariff. The missed profit of the Luhansk railroad neared 69 million rubles in September of this year alone," the ministry said.
Later the LPR leader denied that he had allowed the LPR state security ministry and law enforcement agencies to arrest the fuel and energy minister.
