(KP Daily) The Antimonopoly Committee said in a statement on Monday that it would begin a thorough investigation of the grain market, including the its flour and bread sectors, in line with presidential orders.

It said that the goal of the investigation is to stop abuses of monopoly grain positions on the market and curtail growth in bread prices.

Please click below to download a press release issued today by Syngenta Ukraine concerning unfounded allegation with respect to a previous joint venture in Ukraine:

"The Ukrainian subsidiary of Syngenta.....hereby states that these allegations do not correspond to reality and rejects them as groundless."

.......A court on Monday refused to release a former deputy prime minister accused of corruption as part of a high-profile government probe into grain market abuses.

The Kyiv Court of Appeals upheld last month's district court decision to detain Leonid Kozachenko pending his trial on charges of large-scale theft of state assets, bribe-taking and tax evasion, the Interfax and Ukrainian News agencies reported.

As deputy prime minister, Kozachenko spearheaded Ukraine's agriculture policy and grain market reforms until a Cabinet reshuffle in November. He was arrested last month during a widespread government investigation of grain shortages ordered by President Leonid Kuchma.

He now heads a confederation of agribusiness organizations.

Opposition lawmakers and business leaders have claimed the charges are an attempt to reverse long-awaited agricultural reforms in the country.

Ukrainian media reported that prosecutors have opened some 200 criminal cases so far, accusing farms, traders and regional officials of reporting inflated grain harvests and reserves and conspiring to defraud buyers by falsifying documents to hide fake grain deals or make secret sales.

Kozachenko could face up to eight years in prison for abuse of power and 10 years for tax evasion if convicted. He denies all accusations.

One of the world's largest grain exporters, Ukraine faces a crisis this year after severe weather destroyed up to 90 percent of the winter crop in some regions.

Analysts have said that the former breadbasket of the Soviet Union will have to import about 150,000 tons of grain before the new harvest later this year. The Agricultural Ministry could not immediately confirm it intends to import grain.

The Kyiv Appeal Court has upheld the decision of Kyiv's Pechersk District Court to authorize the Prosecutor-General's Office to detain former deputy prime minister Leonid Kozachenko.

The appeal court upheld the lower court's decision after considering appeals by Kozachenko's lawyers Ihor Usenko and Larysa Zhuravska.

"The appeal by Usenko and Zhuravska is rejected," the court said in a statement.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Prosecutor-General's Office has accused Kozachenko of accepting large amounts of bribes in the August-October period of 2000. This accusation is in addition to the charges of abuse of office and tax evasion that the Prosecutor-General's Office earlier filed against Kozachenko.

In particular, the Prosecutor-General's Office accuses Kozachenko of extorting bribes in the form of 106 shares in the Ukragrobiznes company (worth UAH 1,497,600) from Novartis AG and AstraZeneca Holdings B.V., which are the co-founders of Ukragrobiznes.

On March 27, Kyiv's Pechersk district court sanctioned Kozachenko's detention for the duration of the pre-trial investigation.

The Prosecutor-General's Office charged Kozachenko with abuse of office (Article 363 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code) and evasion of taxes (Article 212).

In particular, the Prosecutor-General's Office accuses Kozachenko of facilitating export of grain at understated prices and deliberately failing to organize purchase of grain at "mortgage prices."

Kozachenko served as Ukraine's deputy prime minister in charge of the agro-industrial sector from June 2001 to November 2002.

On Friday, Usenko and Zhuravska appealed to Kyiv's Pechersk district court against the decision of the Prosecutor-General's Office to file charges against Kozachenko. They also challenged the court's decision to sanction Kozachenko's arrest.

The Prosecutor-General's Office has accused former deputy prime minister Leonid Kozachenko of accepting large amounts of bribes in the August-October period of 2000.

This is announced in an April 5 statement from the Prosecutor-General's Office, a text of which Ukrainian News obtained.

This accusation is in addition to the charges of abuse of office and tax evasion that the Prosecutor-General's Office earlier filed against Kozachenko.

The Prosecutor-General's Office accuses Kozachenko of extorting bribes in the form of 106 shares in the Ukragrobiznes company (worth UAH 1,497,600) from Novartis AG and AstraZeneca Holdings B.V., which are the co-founders of Ukragrobiznes.

The statement further said that Kozachenko, in his capacity as the director-general of Ukragrobiznes, demanded bribes from the company's representatives Martin Henrich, Peter Heinz, and Piet Smiths for early payment of debts that accumulated during the 1997-1997 period for delivery of pesticides.

The statement further said that Kozachenko received 53 Ukragrobiznes registered shares with a nominal value of UAH 14,128 per share (worth a total of UAH 748,784,000) from Novartis' authorized representative in Ukraine Yu. Zastavnoy in August 2002.

The statement also says that Kozachenko received a bribe in the form of 53 Ukragrobiznes shares worth the same amount from AstraZeneca's authorized representative O. Tyschenko on October 5, 2002.

According to the statement, Kozachenko was familiarized with the new charges against him on Saturday.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, on March 27 Kyiv's Pechersk district court sanctioned Kozachenko's detention for the duration of the pre-trial investigation. The Prosecutor-General's Office charged Kozachenko with abuse of office (Article 363 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code) and evasion of taxes (Article 212).

The Prosecutor-General's Office also accuses Kozachenko of facilitating export of grain at understated prices and deliberately failing to organize purchase of grain at "mortgage prices."

Kozachenko served as Ukraine's deputy prime minister in charge of the agro-industrial sector from June 2001 to November 2002.

Ihor Usenko and Larysa Zhuravska, the lawyers for Kozachenko, have appealed to Kyiv's Pechersk district court against the decision of the Prosecutor-General's Office to file charges against him. They are also challenging the court's decision to sanction his arrest.

The lawyer of ex-Deputy Prime Minister Leonid Kozachenko, Ihor Usenko, says he considers as groundless the charges levied by the Office of the General Public Prosecutor (GPO) against his client in his receiving of bribes.

Usenko stated this to journalists.

In the words of Usenko, the charge addressed against Kozachenko in receiving bribes was made with the aim of tarnishing him and to create of him an impression of someone who is not a politician, but a person with a criminal past.

"We consider this as prejudice, bias. We will fight in order to refute these allegations," Usenko said.

In Usenko's words, all co-founders of Ukragrobusiness knew about the gift given to Kozachenko in the form of 106 shares in the company, which he headed in 2000.

The called these allegations groundless, while noting that the GPO accuses Kozachenko on the one hand of receiving bribes in the form of shares in the company Ukragrobusiness, and on the other hand of not paying taxes for the shares that were gifted to him.

"As of today's date, the charge can be interpreted as this: Kozachenko did not declared shares, which he received as a bribe," he said.

As Ukrainian News has reported, the GPO accused Kozachenko of receiving in August to October 2000 bribes in particular large amounts, having added it to the previous allegations of abuse of office and tax evasion.

The GPO accuses Kozachenko of extorting bribes in the form of 106 shares in the company Ukragrobusiness at a value of UAH 1,497,6, which he received from the companies Novartis AG and AstraZeneka Holdings B.V. - both co-founders of Ukragrobusiness.

On 27 March, the Kyiv's Pechersk district court sanctioned the detention in custody of Kozachenko, who the GPO accuses of abuse of office (article 363 of the Criminal Code) and tax evasion (article 212 of the Criminal Code).

In particular, the GPO accuses Kozachenko of promoting export of grain at reduced prices and intentionally not organizing hypothecation purchases of grain.

Since June 2001 to November 2002 Kozachenko held the post of Deputy Premier for Agricultural Policy.

On Friday of last week, Kozachenko's lawyers - Usenko and Laryssa Zhuravska mounted a challenge in court against the decision of the Prosecutor's office on instituting a criminal case against Kozachenko and they challenged the decision of the Pechersk district court on ordering his arrest.