Yanukovych’s embezzler is now a citizen of Israel

One of the most wanted associates of Viktor Yanukovych, the former energy minister Eduard Stavytskyi, has taken Israeli citizenship and changed his name to Rosenberg, reports journalist and newly elected deputy Serhiy Leshchenko on his blog, November 20. "According to my sources, Stavytskyi is now Eduard Rosenberg," Leshchenko writes. Stavytskyi's wife, Olena, is now Helena Rosenberg. According to Leshchenko, it was Stavytsky who in 2007 implemented the scheme to steal Mezhyhiria (Yanukovych's palatial residence near Kyiv -- Ed.) and who planted in Yanukovych's mind the "complex of impunity and unlimited wealth." Stavytskyi reached his career heights after the election of Yanukovych when he became minister of the environment and then minister of energy. During the Yanukovych era he obtained some two dozen permits for the development and subsequent extraction of oil and gas for his firm Golden Derrick LLC (for at least 28 fields in Ukraine ! -- Ed.) "When Yanukovych's regime fell, Stavytskyi tried to negotiate. He began to relate on television how he was an underground partisan-patriot," Leshchenko says. However, the ex-minister still had to leave the country due to his status as a suspect in the matter of the "misappropriation and embezzlement of an especially large sum of government property  through abuse of power." A search conducted at the  Stavytskyi residence after he fled the country uncovered a collection of watches, some of which cost more than $600,000, diamonds, 42 kilograms of gold, and $5 million in cash. He was placed on the Interpol international most wanted list, but reports appeared this summer that he had received Israeli citizenship, which placed him out of reach of Ukrainian justice since Israel does not extradite its citizens. "Therefore, Stavytskyi has escaped unscathed; he was free to live in his new country and the only limitation was the fact that he could not travel abroad since the Ukrainian arrest warrant was in effect there. However. things are even worse that they appeared. Stavytskyi has bought not only freedom but a new life. He is now Eduard Rosenberg," Leschenko writes. "Thus a citizen of Ukraine, whose arrest had been authorized worldwide, has transformed himself into a respectable citizen of Israel. With a passport under the name of Eduard Rosenberg, he can travel freely around the globe since he is no longer wanted. That is easy to verify on the Interpol site," he adds. According to Leschenko, "the Stavytskyis are now registered in Israel, at  Hahoresh, 101, Kfar Shmaryahu -- a respectable suburb of Tel Aviv near the sea coast, consisting mostly of villas." He encourages readers who live in Tel Aviv to locate and photograph the property. Meanwhile, Leschenko insists that he and his colleagues will appeal to the Prosecutor General to place Stavytskyi on the Interpol wanted list under his new name. "If we are unable to extract him from Israel, at least we should deprive him of the chance to move freely  around the world and to enjoy the wealth he has looted from Ukraine," he concludes. Adapted and translated from Leshchenko's blog.