Baloha’s pilot fined hryvnia 1,200 for breaking customs regulations

April09200921:34

We have earlier reported that Uzhgorod customs officials seized the foreign-owned Learjet-60 plane and police opened an investigation, Uzhgorod oblast Sheriff Pavlo Kononenko said Apr. 7.

The plane was used on April 3 by Pres Yushchenko’s chief of staff Viktor Baloha. Lawmaker Hennady Moskal, Baloha’s avid critic, blew the whistle to the authorities demanding to check the plane’s legality and permits to land in Uzhgorod.

Meanwhile, customs officials found out that the plane was chartered for a Praha-Kyiv-Praha flight and had no permission to land in Uzhgorod. The police opened an investigation against the pilot, Hennady Holovatsky.

Simultaneously, lawmaker Moskal asked the Security Service, Foreign Intelligence Service, State Tax Administration and Customs to tell him why Pres Yushchenko’s chief of staff was flying on a contraband plane owned by one of Utah banks and also why the bearer of state secrets was being serviced by a US citizen. The plane owners were not registered as businessmen or tax payers in Ukraine and unlawfully used the plane to fly domestic routes.

The pilot has paid the fine, and can fly his plane back home tomorrow, a source in the Uzhgorod court said.