KIEV, Ukraine -- Premier and presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko addressed journalists in the Big Politics live talk show broadcast by the Inter TV channel.
Commenting on the alleged lead of Viktor Yanukovych in the polls reported by the media, she called them fabricated, saying: “I guess, as experienced journalists you should know the true value of such polls. They are hatched in campaign staffs and then poured out at the people.They shouldn’t really be trusted.” Tymoshenko recalled a miserable 0.5% forecast for her party back in 2002 when BYT, in fact, scored 8%. The story repeated in 2004 when such made-to-order polls gave BYT only 12%, and her party won over 24% of the vote. "Ukrainians are being manipulated by the media, starting from TV news and ending with pseudo polls. Their brains are washed to the wishes of the masters of life, Tymoshenko replied.
CALL FOR UNITY
The premier recalled her statement made in Lviv last week for democratic candidates to unite in the runoffs around the highest scorer.“I think, every sensible person in Ukraine realizes that if the mafia [referring to the Party of Regions] comes to power it will be the end of Ukraine’s normal development,” Yulia Tymoshenko stressed.
PRESIDENT, CENTRAL BANK LAUNCHED FINANCIAL HOLODOMOR
A deliberate financial Holodomor [famine] was launched in Ukraine. It was well-orchestrated and is still being implemented, she warned.Asked about who is to blame, she responded by pointing to politicians who strive to ruin the country as a means of preserving or gaining power. She stressed the Central bank is the main perpetrator, with President Yushchenko controlling the bank. “I don’t believe the president was not in the know about the bank’s wheelings and dealings,” she added.The country has been deliberately cash-strapped by the Central bank and pocket commercial banks. As a result, crediting businesses has been stopped due to abominable 16% rate charged by the Central bank and the 30-35% by commercial banks. The economy is being strangled, the premier continued.The Central bank printed 100 billion hryvnias. Instead of channeling the money to the economy, it gave it to commercial banks which bought hard currency for it and funneled it out of Ukraine to off-shore zones After the election, I’ll turn this financial beehive out [a reference to Yushchenko’s hobby as a beekeeper] and show the nation through which banks the money was funneled abroad,” the premier warned.“We’ll have the prosecutor general with enough political will and courage not only to expose but also to bring to account,” she said.
FIGHTS FAT CATS
The premier complained that the fat cats that came to power during Pres. Kuchma’s rule still dominate the country. They own major enterprises and most of the media. If you want to oppose the system, you inevitably will be in the opposition. They are all against me, Tymoshenko admitted.“The prosecution is controlled by the Party of Regions, same as the bulk of the media and local authorities. In the Verkhovna Rada there is no effective majority ready to implement reforms,” she said.The will of Ukrainians who protested on the Maidan in 2004 has not been implemented by Yushchenko, Tymoshenko charged, and her goal is to see this done. The Maidan is not history, she stressed.
THIEVES MUST GO TO JAILS
Tymoshenko threatened to prosecute those who lined their pockets with illegally stolen state property. “I have a long list of people who deserve being jailed for what they have done to Ukraine in the past 18 years,” she warned.Asked what she expects the fat cats to do, Tymoshenko presented her code for the tycoons: “pay taxes honestly, pay fair wages to employees, invest in modernization instead of funneling money to off-shore accounts.”
OFFICIALS GO ON STEALING BINGET
Tymoshenko described the present situation as being very grave, especially due to large-scale theft of state property by officials.Asked if she will press for the prosecution of Pres Yushchenko, she said it would be wrong to name the corrupt officials at the moment.Simultaneously, she was indignant and fuming, accusing Viktor Yanukovych of grabbing a former government residence in Mezhyhory [a 600-sq.m house and 140 hectares of land]. She also mentioned that Yushchenko has bought a 13-heactare lot of “golden” land in the Kyiv suburbs in 2009.
DENIES BEING IN THE MONEY
Asked whether she was a hobo [Yushchenko once, after analyzing her tax declaration, compared her to a hobo, saying the country cannot be run by a persons without any property, land or money] or a billionaire, Tymoshenko responded by saying she had been prosecuted by the Kuchma regime. “If I had billions, they would have found them,” she commented.She stressed she had been cleared of all the charges by all the 30 judges of the Supreme Court.
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