Court Gives Green Light For Poroshenko To Take Lie-Detector Test - Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty

Posted: 13 Aug 2019 08:46 PM PDT

A Kyiv court has granted permission for authorities to administer a polygraph test to former President Petro Poroshenko in a tax evasion case, a spokeswoman for the State Bureau for Investigations (DBR) told Interfax on August 13.

Angelika Ivanova said the Kyiv Pechersk District Court's decision is applicable only upon Poroshenko's consent.

The former president told reporters on August 12 that he is ready to answer questions during a polygraph, but only in the studio of Pryamiy (Direct) television channel.

During his unsuccessful re-election bid earlier this year, Poroshenko enjoyed enormous coverage on Pryamiy and local media have reported he is the ultimate owner of the channel.

"I do not trust the DBR and its leadership," Poroshenko said. "I do not believe that investigators are objective and unbiased…I am ready to pass a polygraph test in the Pryamiy channel's live broadcast."

In the same briefing on August 12, Poroshenko accused a former official in ex-President Viktor Yanukovych's administration of trying to take over Pryamiy.

However, he denied ownership of the channel, saying "I do not have any property relations or ownership relations with Pryamiy TV."

The DBR has twice questioned Poroshenko as a witness in recent weeks over the sale of Pryamiy and alleged tax evasion during the transaction.

Volodymyr Makeyenko, a former lawmaker from the pro-Russian Party of Regions, is officially listed as the TV channel's owner. He was also the head of the Kyiv city state administration for just over a month towards the end of Yanukovych's truncated presidency in early 2014.

A billionaire confectioner, Poroshenko and his party successfully ran on a pro-European, anti-Russian ticket in the July parliamentary elections, winning 25 seats.

Based on reporting by Interfax

Court sanctions ex-President Poroshenko’s lie detector test — media - TASS

Posted: 13 Aug 2019 11:35 AM PDT

KIEV, August 13. /TASS/. The Ukrainian court has given permission to question former President Pyotr Poroshenko using a polygraph (lie detector test) at the State Bureau of Investigations, Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper reported citing the bureau's press service.

"There was a court ruling. There is a sanction for Pyotr Poroshenko to take a lie detector test, but, importantly, it can happen only upon his consent," the newspaper quoted a bureau representative as saying.

Yesterday, the ex-president was questioned over a suspected tax evasion scheme associated with carrying out the purchase and sale of the Pryamoi TV channel. After the questioning, Director of the State Bureau of Investigations Roman Truba announced that the next questioning could be held with the use of a polygraph. In response, Poroshenko claimed that he did not trust the State Bureau of Investigations and was willing to take a test live and broadcast by the Pryamoi TV channel.

The bureau has launched 11 cases against Poroshenko. The charges pressed include high treason, abuse of power, money laundering, tax default, an attempt to usurp judicial power, and "illegal appointment of Ukraine's cabinet of ministers in 2016 in the absence of a coalition in the Verkhovna Rada." One of the cases concerns Kiev's factory Kuznitsa na Rybalskom, which was one of Poroshenko's largest assets and which, according to the media, the former president fictitiously sold to Ukrainian businessman Sergei Tigipko. The case of the factory's sale was opened on suspicion of tax fraud and further laundering of illegally gained income.

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