As the Internal Affairs Ministry public relations center reported on April 18, Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Yuri Smyrnov guarantees that most underworld bosses will be taken into custody within a month. “I guarantee that the criminal bosses, if not all then the majority, will be arrested within a month,” General Smyrnov said. The minister has already held a number of meetings with regional police chiefs who were warned they will face disciplinary measures if they fail to take resolute action to neutralize criminal bosses. He expressed confidence that as early as in May his ministry will be able to report to President Kuchma and the Ukrainian people that “there is progress” in combating underworld leaders. The mentioned center reports, in the first quarter of 2001 police arrested 255 organized crime groupings and spotted over 1,000 people implicated in these. 2,600 crimes were solved, including 34 instances of armed gang organization, 38 murders, 165 armed robberies, 73 cases of extortion, and 586 thefts. 88 units of firearms and 45 motor vehicles were withdrawn from the organized crime groupings, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
Simultaneously, the minister said, 20 Kyiv policemen are going to bear civil liability for incidents that occurred on March 9 in Kyiv. Among those facing disciplinary charges are officers of the Kyiv City General Police Department. Gen. Smyrnov also announced that the share of the shadow economy in GDP had increased by 1% over the past two years, with illegal electricity consumption, the agrarian shadow economy, and the corruption- and bribery-related criminal incomes accounting for UAH 5 billion, UAH 8 billion, and UAH 3 billion respectively. It is for this reason, the minister emphasized, the ministry’s economic offenses branch is going to drop what he calls trivia and concentrate on solving serious economic crimes. Gen. Smyrnov pointed out that such crimes would be unearthed first of all in the fuel and energy, credit and banking, and agrarian sectors. The minister also expressed firm confidence that the rate of solving serious economic crimes would see an at least 60% rise by the end of the year.
