All the big businessmen in Odessa region pay gavel to Governor Mikheil Saakashvili so that the local authorities make preferable conditions for their businesses. Otherwise, businessmen face problems, Dmitry Golubev, a deputy of the Ukrainian Supreme Rada from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, told 122 TV Channel.
The parliamentarian openly slammed the Odessa governor for racketeering and extortion. “Saakashvili is engaged in racket in Odessa. Big enterprises and businessmen receive letters from his advisor asking, for instance, for a charitable assistance for 2.5 million hryvnias ($104,000). And they pay,” Golubev said. “Those who refuse to pay face a meeting with the Georgian attorney and Georgian police. People even have no one to complain to… Saakashvili has created a vicious cycle. I have data that prove my words. I will publish them later,” the deputy said.
EADaily reported earlier that Saakashvili had repeatedly slammed the government and prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk for corruption. Earlier, the Union of Political Emigrants and Political Prisoners of Ukraine said the pressure on political prisoners by the criminals jailed in Odessa has increased sharply after Saakashvili was appointed as Odessa governor. In addition, Saakashvili is actively dealing with the militants of the “Islamic State” and helps them penetrate into Ukraine via Odessa through the local residents – members of Autonomous opposition, a youth radical organization known for its warm attitude to the radical Islamists (Wahhabi underground groups in the North Caucasus, Jabhat al-Nursra).
