March 18 2003, 13:57 Interfax-Ukraine

Opposition accuses Ukraine's authorities of swindles in grain market

Socialist Party of Ukraine's parliamentary faction claims from government it should immediately investigate situation in domestic grain market.

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, leader of the faction Olexandr Moroz has stressed that the faction requires from government "to take exhaustive measures" to remedy the situation in the market. He said that if the persons, guilty in unlawful actions, were not prosecuted within a month, the SPU's faction would consider these crimes as "having been committed under the patronage of president". He noted that the faction suggested either to create own commission to investigate the issue, or to charge the Parliamentary Committee for Agrarian Policy to find out "how the bread swindle was being done".

Mr. Moroz emphasised that in 2002 grain traders were buying grain from agricultural producers at 300 hryvnias per tonne, while the year before the price had been 700 hryvnias (5.36 hryvnias = $1).

"This was made by the efforts of the powers, first of all - the minister of agrarian policy", Moroz said. To his opinion, the powers first "inflated the gross crop account", having in such a way knocked off the price, and then cheated agricultural producers for almost 7 billion hryvnias.