Ukraine's Radical Party Urges Poroshenko to Disclose Offshore Schemes

Ukraine’s Radical Party called on President Petro Poroshenko to address lawmakers on Tuesday to inform them of his alleged offshore companies.

KIEV (Sputnik) – Party leader Oleh Lyashko said earlier he planned to launch impeachment procedures after Poroshenko’s alleged use of tax havens had been disclosed in the so-called Panama Papers leak.

"The Radical Party calls on President Poroshenko, following the example of [British Prime Minister David] Cameron, to inform the Ukrainian parliament and the public about his offshore firms on Tuesday," Lyashko wrote on his Facebook page.

The pro-EU politician called on Speaker Volodymyr Groysman to "immediately" form a special temporary committee to investigate the Poroshenko offshore case.

On April 3, the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung exposed alleged involvement of a number of former and current world leaders, including Ukraine's president, in tax haven schemes using the information obtained in materials allegedly leaked from Mossack Fonseca, a Panama firm selling offshore companies.

According to the leak, Poroshenko allegedly created an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands, intended for restructuring the Roshen confectionery manufacturing group which he controls, and did not list it in his income statements.

Ukraine’s State Fiscal Service said the agency would look into the allegations that Poroshenko set up a secret offshore company to evade taxes.