Polish News Bulletin; Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Mar 04, 2004

WARSAW - Capital from an unclear origin, a non-transparent corporate structure and possible money laundering - these were the charges made by the Agency for Internal Security (ABW) against the Ukrainian company Donbas, which lost the contract to buy the Huta Czestochowa (HC) steel mill, the Rzeczpospolita daily has revealed.

ABW is said to suspect that Russian interests could be behind Donbas and its offer for HC and the newspaper claims this analysis by the Agency forced the Treasury Ministry to choose the offer presented by the London-based steel giant LNM instead. This decision caused outrage in Ukraine and prompted criticism from the President of Ukrainian, Leonid Kuczma.

Meanwhile, Donbas representatives have dismissed ABW's findings. "Donbas is a decent company which does not hide either its structure, or sources of capital," stressed Konstanty Litwinow, who represents the company in Poland. Donbas is the largest industrial concern in Ukraine, with a $3bn annual turnover.