The FINANCIAL — Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is a candidate in the 2010 presidential elections, has accused the Party of the Regions' leader Viktor Yanukovych, who is also a candidate in the presidential elections, of involvement in machinations involving land in the Crimea.
Tymoshenko made the accusation on the Chornomorskyi television channel during a working visit to the Crimea on January 3.
According to Tymoshenko, the Party of the Regions has always been in power in the Crimea and it has managed to organize a real land mafia.
According to Tymoshenko, people complained to her during her visit to the Crimea that the local authorities were taking land from them.
"A land mafia is operating, holding a portrait of Yanukovych in front of it… A powerful mafia – on land, privatization, illegal takeover of oil and deposits – is behind Yanukovych," Tymoshenko said.
According to her, it is specifically officials from the Party of the Regions that are obstructing the issuance of land acts.
Tymoshenko noted that citizens received more than 1 million land deeds in 2009 but added that an additional 6.5 million should have been issued.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Cabinet of Ministers decided on August 26 to return ownership of the Mezhyhiria residence to the state.
Yanukovych said on August 27 that he was the legal owner of a building with a total of 600 square meters of space in the Mezhyhiria residence.
The Cabinet of Ministers granted the Mezhyhiria residence the status of a historical and cultural reserve on September 16, 2009.
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