Yushchenko orders investigation into conspiracy scandal
26/12/200902:20
KIEV, December 26 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has ordered the country's prosecutor general to investigate allegations of his conspiracy with the country's opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych ahead of Ukrainian presidential polls.
On Friday, a senior official at Ukraine's secretariat, Yaroslav Kozachok, published a secret deal pledging Yushchenko the post of premier if Yanukovych, the leader of the opposition Party of Regions, wins the January 17 presidential election. Kozachok reportedly resigned in protest.
"This is a forgery. I will never be prime minister in Yanukovych's staff," Yushchenko said on air of the Inter television channel late on Friday, adding the allegations were "primitive, humiliating."
"I ordered the prosecutor general to urgently investigate the case," he said.
Yanukovych also denied on Friday his conspiracy with the incumbent president, his bitter foe during the 2004 Orange Revolution that brought Yushchenko to power.
Speaking on air of the Ukraina television channel late on Friday, the opposition leader also called the published deal a "forgery," adding it was "completely impossible" that Yushchenko would become prime minister in his staff.
The two presidential candidates were on air simultaneously.
Earlier on Friday, Yanukovych told the Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper he had not "reached any agreement with Yushchenko", but was "ready to agree with everyone if need be for the Ukrainian people to live a better life and for the country to recover from the crisis sooner."
According to a recent survey by the Ukraine Public Opinion Foundation, Yanukovych is leading polls in Ukraine ahead of the elections, with some 29.8% of the voters expected to support his candidacy. Yanukovych's main rival is Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is expected to receive 14.8% of the vote.
Yanukovych pledged on Tuesday to prevent electoral fraud at the polls, while Yushchenko said on Sunday he was convinced he would win the election despite his low rating.
