Belarus conceals information about Yanukovych's official from Ukraine

A prosecutor's office of Belarus refused to reply to Kyv's request if Mykhailo Yezhel was on treatment in Minsk.

Member of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Tymchuk wrote it on Facebook, citing an answer from the prosecutor general's office of Ukraine, where he sent a request about the whereabouts of the Ukrainian ambassador to Belarus and former defence minister. The prosecutor's office says Mykhailo Yezhel was on wanted list as a suspect of embezzlement, but he fled to Minsk. It is impossible to return the former minister from the Belarusian capital to Kyiv, because he has been “ill” for more than 6 months.

“According to the information from the MFA, Mykhailo Yezhel has been on treatment at the military hospital in Minsk since August 10, 2014. In this connection, he cannot arrive in Ukraine,” the prosecutor general's office of Ukraine says.

The agency sent a request to Belarusian colleagues, “but the prosecutor general's office of Belarus refused to provide the requested information”.

“The matter is that the official website of the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry publishes news about ambassador Yezhel's activity in Minsk. The latest news appeared in April,” Dmytro Tymchuk says. “As we can see, the MFA does not only cover such dubious persons from Yanukovych's team but also directly defends former high-ranking officials from fair punishment. The sword of justice is over their head, but they don't feel less comfortable, living at the expense of the Ukrainian state budget and even enjoying a diplomatic status.”

The question over the recalling of Mykhailo Yezhel, who has been a defence minister during Viktor Yanukovych's rule, from Belarus has remained unsolved for a year. The prosecutor general's office of Ukraine suspects him of inflicting damage of 42 million hryvnias to the state. “As it follows from the answer of the prosecutor general's office to my request, these facts were confirmed during the investigation. Mykhailo Yezhel was informed that he was a suspect on August 8 last year,” Dmytro Tymchuk writes.