Correspondent: Killing The Story Tx Date: 21st April 2002 This script was made from audio tape – any inaccuracies are due to voices being unclear or inaudible 00.00.00 Music 00.00.07 Tom Mangold A dead journalist, his headless corpse found in a shallow grave. 00.00.11 Music 00.00.14 Tom Mangold A bodyguard on the run for his life, a price on his head. 00.00.18 Music 00.00.21 Tom Mangold An embattled President secretly recorded and implicated in murder, international crime and corruption. 00.00.28 Music 00.00.35 Tom Mangold The Ukraine is in crisis – one that stretches far beyond its borders. 00.00.39 Music 00.00.44 Correspondent Theme Music 00.00.49 Title Page KILLING THE STORY A Tom Mangold Investigation 00.01.01 Tom Mangold At a windswept junction miles from anywhere in the Ukraine, a weather-scarred memorial to a murdered journalist. 00.01.12 Tom Mangold This was Georgy Gongadze, butchered by unknown assassins eighteen months ago. Just another murdered reporter in this lawless state? Well, not quite. Not this time. 00.01.22 Music 00.01.25 Tom Mangold Gongadze was the thirteenth reporter to die unnaturally in the Ukraine in ten years. But his murder, unlike the others, has triggered a chain of events across the world and also threatens the very survival of the government. 00.01.38 Music 00.01.44 Tom Mangold Today in the bleak woods one hundred miles from Kiev, only the crows bear witness to whoever stripped him, cut off his head and poured acid on him. His last journey ended here. 00.01.55 Music 00.02.02 Aston TOM MANGOLD The car carrying Gongadze, we don't know if he was alive or dead, came up this track, we're now in the middle of the woods and it stopped somewhere here. And the reason it stopped was because the killers discovered that a tree, an uprooted tree, had left a shallow trench just there. So, eventually, we don't know whether they killed him here or whether the decapitated him but eventually his lifeless and headless body was carried over to the shallow trench left by the uprooted tree here. 00.02.30 Tom Mangold The trench that you see there now was actually dug by the investigators and wasn't the trench that he was buried in. That's where he laid for two months until his body was discovered by complete accident by the farmer. 00.02.44 Music 00.02.55 Farmer Voice over I started digging and saw some skin and then some ribs. I just knew it had to be a torso. 00.03.05 Music 00.03.15 Tom Mangold Gongadze, a fearless journalist, attacked what he perceived to be a crooked and corrupt administration. 00.03.21 Music 00.03.23 Aston Reconstruction 00.03.24 Tom Mangold They don't really like that in the Ukraine. So, at first they followed him – just to let him know. 00.03.28 Music 00.03.35 Tom Mangold But Gongadze ignored the warning. His journalistic campaigns continued, so they decided it was time to deliver an unambiguous message. 00.03.45 Music 00.03.47 Tom Mangold They came at night – they usually do. They knew where to go. The smart money says it was a government goon squad. Who else? And why else? 00.03.55 Music 00.03.57 Tom Mangold He'd had dinner at this block of flats with a companion. 00.04.00 Aston Reconstruction 00.04.00 Tom Mangold She recalls that he took the leftovers down on his way home. They watched him in the darkness and waited. 00.04.07 Music 00.04.14 Tom Mangold And when his back was turned – they sprang. 00.04.17 Music 00.04.21 Tom Mangold It couldn't really have been a mugging or a street crime. This is how authorities in the Ukraine try to make their point. 00.04.29 Tom Mangold Only the killers know what happened next. He was most likely beaten too energetically so the thugs decided to remove identification and hide the torso. It was clumsy but it was final. 00.04.41 Music 00.04.48 Aston The Coroner 00.04.56 Tom Mangold The body was brought to the local coroner. He is a brave man and not one of the great power players of the Ukraine. 00.05.02 Tom Mangold Within days the government began to panic as the high profile journalist's disappearance turned into murder. 00.05.09 Tom Mangold Someone in authority had to take charge. So now the boys from Kiev arrived in their big black limos and elbowed the coroner out of the way. 00.05.27 Aston IHOR VOROTYNTSEV Voice over The local cops took the body out of my jurisdiction to the regional forensic laboratory. 00.05.36 Tom Mangold Did you give permission for the body to be removed? 00.05.41 Ihor Vorotyntsev Voice over No, nobody asked me anything. They simply informed me that they were taking the body away and they took it. That was it. 00.05.51 Tom Mangold What happened to you notes? 00.05.57 Ihor Vorotyntsev Voice over The notes? At first they told me that I would not be in charge of the body any longer even though I had conducted preliminary forensic tests. Then the Prosecutor General's office confiscated my computer and all my records of the case. 00.06.17 Tom Mangold Why would the state wish to deprive you, an authorised coroner, of the notes of a death within his jurisdiction? 00.06.29 Ihor Vorotyntsev Voice over I think I stuck my nose into someone else's business. 00.06.36 Tom Mangold Are you taking a chance talking to us now? 00.06.41 Ihor Vorotyntsev Voice over I guess so. 00.06.43 Music 00.06.51 Aston The Widow 00.06.59 Tom Mangold After the murder, Gongadze's widow took his twins and fled to the US. She'd identified the body despite the horror of what had been taken from the grave. 00.07.07 Music 00.07.14 Aston MYROSLAVA GONGADZE Voice over What I saw under the plastic sheet didn't look like a body. There were some chunks of flesh, remains of a corpse, bones and rotten meat. I discovered that the body was not only unattended but hadn't been kept in a refrigerator for ten days. The authorities had clearly made every effort to prevent anyone discovering how he had died or who could have done it. The body was so decomposed that it was impossible to determine the cause and the date of his death. 00.07.47 Music 00.07.54 Tom Mangold Today, in Washington, she visits the memorial to journalists who died defending their freedoms. Gongadze's name is the latest addition, slaughtered because he too believed the press is the living jury of the nation. 00.08.07 Music 00.08.10 Tom Mangold What are you going to tell them about their father when they grow up? 00.08.16 Myroslava Gongadze Voice over I already tell them their Daddy's in heaven and is keeping an eye on us. So when they go out, they look up at the sky and ask if their Daddy is there. They understand that he's no longer with us, but they don't understand what murder and death mean. 00.08.37 Tom Mangold Ukraine, the size of France and balanced between Russia and the West. For Moscow the Ukraine is important to extend its influence westwards. But in the West's eyes, the Ukraine's neutrality is crucial and the corruption and criminality of the state are regarded as a source of dangerous infection to the rest of western Europe. 00.08.58 Music 00.09.07 Tom Mangold So the battle for the soul of the Ukraine continues with mixed results. In the ten years since independence the Ukraine was an economic basket case, her economy contracted, crime and corruption rampant. 00.09.19 Tom Mangold Insiders robbed the state of its assets during the vulnerable years of privatisation. 00.09.24 Music 00.09.27 Tom Mangold Nevertheless the country began to climb out of its economic depths. Slowly long overdue social and political reforms began to bite and the Ukraine took her first steps to dignified nationhood. 00.09.39 Music 00.09.46 Tom Mangold Then suddenly, just as this pivotal state seemed to be on the mend, the murder of Gongadze in September 2000 was to be followed by a new scandal. 00.09.55 Tom Mangold This one not only revealed something about that murder but added a brand new dimension, which now began to rock the government to its foundations. 00.10.10 Audio recording Subtitles Let the Chechens kidnap him… drive him out, strip him, take his pants off. 00.10.18 Tom Mangold Secret audio recordings of the President and all his men talking with extreme prejudice about how to deal with Gongadze and other perceived enemies of the government. A year's worth of eavesdropping making Nixon's Watergate tapes sound like a parish council fracas. 00.10.36 Tom Mangold Someone had placed a digital recorder here, inside President Kuchma's inner chamber. What the nation heard was not reassuring. 00.10.46 Crowds shouting 00.10.53 Tom Mangold The recordings seemed to reveal a vindictive and often foul-mouthed President Kuchma, wishing his enemies harm, a vengeful man riding over his nation's new civil liberties. 00.11.04 Crowds shouting 00.11.18 Music 00.11.25 Tom Mangold At first the tapes were dismissed by the government as fakes or synthetic creations. But that ended when the man who made them appeared. 00.11.33 Music 00.11.40 Tom Mangold It turned out to be a Major Nikolai Melnychenko, an officer in the presidential guard. 00.11.45 Music 00.11.49 Tom Mangold His motives, he claimed, were to expose an administration riddled with crime and corruption, with fat cats lining their pockets and the underprivileged staying under as they'd done for decades. 00.12.00 Tom Mangold Once identified, Melnychenko prudently left the country as the storm broke. 00.12.04 Music 00.12.08 Tom Mangold Parliament met to watch Major Melnychenko as he made a brief video appearance from a secret hideout. 00.12.20 Tom Mangold He coolly confirmed to deputies that he was indeed the man behind the recordings and that he would continue to expose government venality and dishonesty. The scandal was growing beyond the mere murder of a journalist. 00.12.34 Tom Mangold As he switched himself off camera, he left a time bomb ticking under a rattled administration. 00.12.40 Tom Mangold Melnychenko had not acted alone but as the front man for a small and likeminded but anonymous group who see themselves as true Ukrainian patriots. Next he fled to Washington and went underground. 00.12.52 Music 00.12.55 Tom Mangold He made occasional remote contact through television and radio but he was fast becoming the invisible man. 00.13.02 Tom Mangold This is the studio of Radio Liberty in Kiev. The mysterious Major Melnychenko was due to make an electronic appearance here from Washington. I am one of half a dozen journalists who were scheduled to ask him a question or three about those controversial tapes. Sadly we've just heard that he's cancelled the press conference so I'm sitting here all alone. 00.13.20 Music 00.13.24 Tom Mangold But even Melnychenko's silence couldn't stem the public fury against Kuchma. The mood in the streets became even uglier and there were repeated calls for the President's impeachment. 00.13.35 Music / Crowds protesting 00.13.48 Tom Mangold For the first time it looked as if the President might not survive the battering as the pent-up rage continued to spill over into the streets. 00.13.55 Crowds protesting 00.14.08 Music 00.14.19 Aston The Politician 00.14.25 Tom Mangold Alexander Yeliaskevich, an independent deputy, tried to block an attempt by President Kuchma to give himself extended political powers. 00.14.34 Tom Mangold This was not wise. Soon after, he was attacked by a man who tried to kill him with a single murderous karate blow aimed at pushing his nose bones into his brain. 00.14.46 Alexander Yeliaskevich Voice over I'm damn lucky to be alive. The blow caused severe skull and brain trauma, severe concussion, a broken nose and tremendous damage to my face. I should have been killed. 00.15.00 Tom Mangold How did you discover that President Kuchma had knowledge of the attack? 00.15.06 Aston ALEXANDER YELIASKEVICH Voice over I heard it personally on the Melnychenko tapes six months after I was attacked. You can actually hear the President of Ukraine giving an order to deal with me in such as way that I would never walk again. 00.15.19 Music 00.15.27 Tom Mangold Punishment beatings delivered by government-sanctioned heavies are a favourite form of persuasion in President Kuchma's Ukraine. They can be delivered in a way that leaves a lasting impression. 00.15.38 Music 00.15.47 Aston The Writer 00.15.51 Tom Mangold Oleksiy Podolisky, an opposition commentator, was taken for a classic Ukrainian car ride after he'd published several articles criticising President Kuchma. He was followed and kidnapped Gongadze style but lived to tell the tale. 00.16.09 Aston OLEKSIY PODOLISKY Voice over One of them was holding me down by the hair and told me to crawl out of the car. "You're gonna die now", he said, "we're giving you a spade and first you're going to dig your own grave". Then the car driver got out carrying a spade and a can of petrol. 00.16.26 Music 00.16.38 Tom Mangold Podolisky was certain they were going to kill him and burn his body. This time it was only part of the mental torture. 00.16.45 Music 00.16.51 Oleksiy Podolisky Voice over I was down. They were giving me a hell of a beating all over my body. Then one of them produced a cosh and lifted my leg and hit me here on exactly the same spot dozens of times. The pain was unbelievable. 00.17.10 Tom Mangold Months later, Podolisky was to hear on the tapes the account of this very beating laughingly described by a government minister to President Kuchma. 00.17.22 Oleksiy Podolisky Voice over I recognised all of it. 00.17.25 Music 00.17.32 Tom Mangold Truth is the Ukraine is one of the most dangerous countries in Europe in which to be a reporter. At least judging by the number who die there. These thirteen have perished in mysterious circumstances in the last decade. 00.17.44 Tom Mangold Murder, beatings and harassment are a routine condition of employment for honest journalists. 00.17.50 Music 00.17.58 Aston The Colleague 00.18.10 Tom Mangold Oleh Yeltsov taking a morning off to watch his daughter turning circles. 00.18.15 Tom Mangold Yeltsov worked with Gongadze and both journalists have been looking at the links between state officials, powerful industrial oligarchs and the government. 00.18.22 Music 00.18.25 Tom Mangold Yeltsov investigated the SBU, Ukraine's feared Security Service. This became so life threatening that Yeltsov decided it was best to get out of town, the SBU was right behind him. 00.18.40 Oleh Yeltsov Voice over They searched us twice on the train. They told me I was searched following an anonymous call claiming that we were carrying cocaine. 00.18.51 Tom Mangold Do you believe that your life or the life of your daughter were ever in danger? 00.18.56 Oleh Yeltsov Voice over I think so. 00.18.59 Tom Mangold Are you happy for this interview to be broadcast with the implications of security, your security and the security of this little girl here, who's your daughter? 00.19.16 Aston OLEH YELTSOV Voice over In fact this interview will achieve quite the opposite. It will protect me. I'm not frightened. The attention the western press pays to us independent journalists here is probably the one thing that holds the authorities back from putting too much pressure on us. 00.19.37 Tom Mangold But he's being over optimistic. Two days after this conversation the Secret Service called on him and seized his computer's hard disc. Then his car was broken into and only documents stolen. In the Ukraine, they call that the gypsy's warning. 00.19.55 Music 00.20.02 Tom Mangold Romania's National Day celebrations and a small diplomatic reception in Kiev. The attendance is modest. Gongadze's murder alone has left the Ukraine government in growing international isolation. 00.20.14 Music 00.20.22 Tom Mangold The US and British Foreign Secretaries have personally warned President Kuchma to clean his act up, solve the killing and stop harassing the press. Meanwhile vital western investment is stalling as potential investors look with alarm at a state wobbling out of control. 00.20.41 Music 00.20.46 Aston The Detective 00.20.52 Tom Mangold And now the scandals are spreading further overseas. A recently retired FBI special agent and world expert on Russian organised crime arrives in Kiev on an unusual assignment. 00.21.04 Tom Mangold He's investigating how far the murder of Gongadze may be linked to the President and further problems of state involvement in crime and corruption in the Ukraine. 00.21.14 Aston BOB LEVINSON I was approached by a number of people in American corporations who were concerned about the situation in the Ukraine and the investment climate there. And they were seeking to know whether or not the government was involved, whether or not there was circumstances that they should be aware of that would cause them to stop investing, slow down investing, learn more about what was going on in the Ukraine. 00.21.49 Tom Mangold What are you now saying to your American corporate sponsors when they say; Mr Levinson, is it a good time for us to go over there and invest our money? 00.21.58 Bob Levinson I'm saying be careful. I'm saying be very careful because there are different agendas there. It seems to be a place right now where no one knows the truth and the President's denying his role in the affair. There are various levels within the government that are either trying to help him or try and frustrate any independent investigation. 00.22.24 Music 00.22.29 Tom Mangold The formal investigation into the Gongadze murder and the tape scandals is being conducted through official government agencies including the police, its SBU Secret Service and above all the office of Prosecutor General. 00.22.44 Music 00.22.51 Aston The Prosecutor 00.22.57 Tom Mangold Alexander Bohanets is the nation's Deputy Prosecutor General who works with an inseparable colleague. 00.23.03 Tom Mangold Both report to President Kuchma who has personally taken control of the Gongadze murder investigation. No conflict of interest seems to have been detected here. 00.23.13 Tom Mangold So what are everyone's conclusions after a full twelve months of investigation? 00.23.22 Tom Mangold For instance, how did Gongadze die? 00.23.27 Aston ALEXANDER BOHANETS Voice over As the crime remains unsolved, it's obvious that we don't know the circumstances of Gongadze's death. But we do think he was murdered. 00.23.38 Tom Mangold Elementary really and a sound enough theory given the body had no head, no clothes and was found inside a shallow grave. 00.23.47 Tom Mangold So, where did he die? 00.23.53 Alexander Bohanets Voice over We don't know that either. All we know is that he went missing from the moment he disappeared. 00.23.59 Tom Mangold After one year of investigation, you don't seem to know how he died, where he died, why he died or who killed him? 00.24.13 Alexander Bohanets Voice over Unfortunately Ukraine is not the only country in the world, including Britain, where all crimes are not solved. That's the reality; no one is omnipotent. But we will crack this one. 00.24.28 Tom Mangold But have you then reached the conclusion that there is no evidence whatsoever of state involvement in the conspiracy to murder Gongadze? 00.24.42 Alexander Bohanets Voice over We conclude that there is no evidence in this case to suggest the involvement of any top state official in the murder of Georgy Gongadze. 00.24.53 Tom Mangold If no member of the administration was involved, it leaves bandits or a domestic motive? 00.25.05 Alexander Bohanets Voice over Since we have investigated and subsequently rejected the involvement of any top state official in the murder of Georgy Gongadze, all the other theories must remain valid and that's what we're working on now. 00.25.19 Tom Mangold If an independent analysis of the tapes establishes conversations took place which amount to a criminal conspiracy, will you act? 00.25.32 Alexander Bohanets Voice over We think that even if those recordings were made inside the President's office this must have been an illegal act. That means the tapes cannot be used as evidence for charging an individual with a crime. 00.25.44 Music 00.25.47 Tom Mangold So that's it then. The government investigation has effectively cleared anyone in government of responsibility in the journalist's murder. Furthermore as the tapes can't be used in evidence there's not really that much left to investigate. 00.25.59 Music 00.26.06 Aston The Mistress 00.26.14 Tom Mangold None of this comes as much of a surprise to Olena Pritula, Gongadze's partner and for a while his mistress. 00.26.21 Tom Mangold She and Gongadze ran this small opposition internet news agency. The government hated it. 00.26.29 Music 00.26.32 Tom Mangold But it was Gongadze's last remaining window to his audience and he used it to display an alternative view to Kuchma's Ukraine. 00.26.41 Tom Mangold Why would Kuchma want him dead? 00.26.47 Aston OLENA PRITULA Voice over Kuchma is a shallow man who long remembers any criticism from an ordinary journalist. He holds grudges against people who criticise him. And given his lack of restraint and irresponsibility in the use of language he could easily have said what we know he said about Georgy. 00.27.11 Tom Mangold That's really not enough to have somebody killed, is it? 00.27.21 Olena Pritula Voice over I would agree that Kuchma may not have wanted Georgy killed. But the words he used on tape are the reason that Georgy was murdered. 00.27.33 Tom Mangold But that's only if you accept a hundred percent the tapes? 00.27.40 Olena Pritula Voice over I'm convinced that the tapes are authentic and I am convinced that Kuchma said what we've heard on the tapes. I recognise his voice, I know only too well just how he talks. 00.27.52 Tom Mangold Do you believe the tapes have been interfered with or altered in any way? 00.27.57 Olena Pritula Voice over I don't think so but I don't rule it out. 00.28.03 Music 00.28.07 Tom Mangold In Washington we asked one of the world's major audio forensic investigators to examine some of the tapes. Although he found they contain rough edits, something Melnychenko has never denied, he is confident that they're still genuine recordings. 00.28.21 Music 00.28.29 Tom Mangold The famous tapes are in fact digital recordings, over one thousand hours of them, of which only twenty-five minutes of edited material has been publicly released. However, even President Kuchma admits the voices on tape include his. Several conversations accurately reflect events that had actually happened. 00.28.48 Tape 00.28.55 Tom Mangold The key point is that ninety-nine point nine percent of the recordings have yet to be heard in public. 00.29.05 Music 00.29.10 Tom Mangold It's here back in Kiev inside the President's place where they were made that the recordings still tick away. The President certainly knows what he said on them but he is keeping mum. 00.29.20 Music 00.29.28 Aston The President 00.29.35 Tom Mangold Mr Kuchma remains under intense international pressure to explain his role in the murder of Gongadze and the treatment of the press. What does he make of the tapes? 00.29.46 Tom Mangold You have acknowledged that your voice does appear on the tapes? 00.29.53 Aston LEONID KUCHMA Voice over That is what the experts say but our media have shown that politicians' voices can be presented in a way that no one would recognise. So, the voice of any politician can be faked using state of the art technology. 00.30.11 Tom Mangold Your record on the freedom of the press is regarded as appalling. Thirteen journalists murdered, countless beaten up, harassment a regular thing. What are you doing to clean this situation up? 00.30.24 Leonid Kuchma Voice over I categorically disagree with that view. When you quote the number of dead journalists to me, you've got to look at the real cause of death in each case. Do you know how many people are dying all over the world? But you don't ask me about them, you don't ask why so many other people die. I've had to swallow a lot during these years, including a bit from journalists. But I've personally never issued any orders to persecute any newspaper, any TV or radio channel or any journalist. If it happened and I repeat I was not involved, it would have been a mistake and part of the learning process. 00.31.07 Tom Mangold Gongadze and the President were old adversaries. They clashed in public in this televised studio debate when the journalist threw some tough questions at the President and the President fielded them with some irritation. 00.31.23 Tom Mangold Gongadze felt he was only doing his job. 00.31.26 Tom Mangold Who killed Gongadze, why was he killed and where was he killed? Do you know? 00.31.33 Leonid Kuchma Voice over During all the regular meetings and discussions with all our law enforcement bodies, I have been demanding a detailed further investigation of this case. I am still convinced that we'll get to the bottom of this because no one is more interested in this case than I am. 00.31.52 Tom Mangold We have an expression in the west, Mr President, which translated means, I think; 'Who guards the guardians'. Who is looking into the SBU? 00.32.02 Leonid Kuchma Voice over That's neat. The SBU. 00.32.12 Tom Mangold The SBU is looking into the SBU? 00.32.16 Tom Mangold How important was Melnychenko within your circle and what kind of man is he? 00.32.25 Leonid Kuchma Voice over He didn't play any role because I don't know him. I can't even remember what he looked like. 00.32.35 Tom Mangold Let's assume, Sir, that the tapes contain some accurate conversations and some inaccurate conversations. Taken in all they do seem to show a spiteful, vindictive and paranoid administration obsessed with its political and journalistic enemies. How did you feel when you listened to the tapes? 00.32.56 Leonid Kuchma Voice over I've only listened to those bits about Gongadze, which were played in parliament. 00.33.03 Music 00.33.15 Tom Mangold But half a world away some people are taking those recordings far more seriously. The reason is there's much more on them than just Presidential rantings about political and personal enemies. 00.33.25 Music 00.33.29 Tom Mangold Kuchma didn't know his innermost sanctuary was bugged for over a year. Now American law enforcement agencies have been tipped off that there might an Aladdin's cave of incriminating material, some of it of international relevance. 00.33.48 Tom Mangold No one has yet heard the full thousand hours but a lot of people want to. 00.33.55 Tom Mangold We've now learned that the recordings may contain even more devastating secrets that go well beyond the murder of Gongadze. Here in New York the Department of Justice has ordered the seizure of all the recordings. 00.34.07 Tom Mangold The FBI want to know whether there's any evidence that top members of President Kuchma's government may have been involved in international criminal activities including illegal arms sales and money laundering. 00.34.19 Tom Mangold The man who says he knows is the illusive major, Nikolay Melnychenko. 00.34.27 Tom Mangold He's gone to ground in the dense streets of New York's Little Russia with a huge price on his head. He speaks no English and sleeps somewhere else every few nights. It's a rotten life for a political refugee, on the run, hunted by enemies. But that's the life he's chosen. 00.34.42 Music 00.34.51 Aston The Bodyguard 00.34.57 Tom Mangold And this is the man even Western intelligence agencies now wish to interview as well. When we finally tracked him down, he agreed to talk about the famous tapes. But why did he record Kuchma in the first place? 00.35.16 Aston NIKOLAY MELNYCHENKO Voice over While I was working as a member of the President's security staff in Kiev, any ideals that I had were completely blown apart. I learned some facts that made me very disillusioned. 00.35.32 Tom Mangold What facts? 00.35.34 Nikolay Melnychenko Voice over Facts that prove President Kuchma's personal involvement in corrupt acts. I am a direct witness to the evidence time and time again. 00.35.47 Music 00.35.54 Tom Mangold The allegations from Melnychenko of high level crime and corruption help explain why he's now a wanted man in the Ukraine. His offence – making illegal recordings. 00.36.04 Tom Mangold Truth is that his abrupt disappearance would conveniently break the chain of evidence. But he plans to stay alive and keep talking. 00.36.14 Tom Mangold What and who is the Department of Justice investigating here? 00.36.23 Nikolay Melnychenko Voice over I don't know all the details. But the investigation is connected with money laundering operations in the United States. This money results from drug dealing, arms dealing and the theft of Russian gas supplies. 00.36.48 Tom Mangold Is there clear evidence on the recordings of President Kuchma and or members of his administration being involved in any way in money laundering transactions? 00.37.07 Nikolay Melnychenko Voice over The money involved was transferred to personal accounts of Kuchma himself and other senior members of the Ukrainian government. There's clear evidence on the recordings to which I've personally listened about the use of dirty, I mean criminal, money to buy real estate in Britain. There's also evidence that hot money received from smuggling is being transferred to the USA. I also know that some of this dirty money has gone to bribing American politicians. 00.37.59 Music 00.38.04 Tom Mangold The tapes also contain revelations about this man, Alexandre Zhukov, a British citizen who was held earlier last year in connection with one of the biggest seizures of illegal arms ever made. 00.38.15 Music 00.38.18 Tom Mangold This included thirteen thousand tonnes of AK47 assault rifles, ammunition and explosives, guided missiles and grenades. 00.38.27 Tom Mangold The weapons were shipped from the Ukraine to the Balkans. Zhukov denies involvement. 00.38.32 Music 00.38.36 Tom Mangold So does Melnychenko have any information about Mr Zhukov and about his connections with Kuchma and illegal arms selling? 00.38.45 Tom Mangold What evidence is there on the recordings of the involvement of a British citizen called Zhukov and his involvement with President Kuchma in possible arms smuggling and money laundering arrangements. 00.39.09 Nikolay Melnychenko Voice over Yes, I have got some information about him. I have a few conversations between him and President Kuchma in the recordings, which show a very close relationship between the two men. 00.39.29 Tom Mangold Could the meetings between Zhukov and the President have been totally innocent? 00.39.36 Nikolay Melnychenko Voice over No, absolutely not. Those encounters are definitely criminal. 00.39.45 Music 00.39.47 Tom Mangold But there are further allegations of arms dealing not involving Zhukov. One implies that the Ukraine government has illegally sent one hundred million dollars worth of military radars to the Middle East. 00.40.01 Tom Mangold A yes or no here; on countries to which some of these arms and systems may have been sent - did some of them go to Iraq? 00.40.15 Nikolay Melnychenko Voice over Iraq was mentioned in conversations at Kuchma's office. But that's as much as I'm prepared to say now. 00.40.23 Music 00.40.26 Tom Mangold It's that Iraq connection which is ringing bells. If true it would involve a Ukraine in serious breaches of international embargoes. We understand the allegations relate to conversations involving possible deals on missile parts from the Ukraine to Baghdad. 00.40.40 Music 00.40.49 Tom Mangold Someone in Kiev who understands the full implications of these revelations travelled to Washington specifically to meet Melnychenko to buy him and his silence. 00.40.59 Music 00.41.05 Tom Mangold What was offered to you? 00.41.07 Nikolay Melnychenko Voice over Immunity from criminal prosecution at home and money. 00.41.17 Nikolay Melnychenko Voice over Six million dollars. 00.41.19 Tom Mangold Six million dollars! To keep your mouth shut. 00.41.26 Tom Mangold Do you think that you will be alive this time next year? 00.41.31 Nikolay Melnychenko Voice over I think I'll be alive for some time. But I can't rule out the possibility of an accident in the future. Let's face it; it will happen sooner or later, I know how they work. Anyway I took a conscious decision to do what I'm doing and I'm not going to change my mind now. 00.41.51 Music 00.42.05 Tom Mangold But Melnychenko's fugitive life may be coming to an end. The FBI wants to debrief him about the recordings in considerable detail. Then he'll go with his family to a safe house inside a US military complex. 00.42.17 Music 00.42.24 Tom Mangold The ultimate irony is that the murder of Gongadze and the tapes containing the new criminal allegations against top officials in Kiev may be heard and dealt with here in the United States. 00.42.36 Tom Mangold It is unlikely that in Ukraine the will to act is sufficiently powerful. Kiev may still find it more convenient just to kill the story. 00.42.44 Music 00.42.54 Myroslava Gongadze Voice over He was very bright, very open, a very honest person. He was also quite naοve. He knew how to play the game and death didn't frighten him. Justice mattered most to him. 00.43.14 End Music 00.43.23 Voice over For more information on tonight's programme and to register your views, please visit our web site at: www.bbc.co.uk/correspondent 00.43.24 Credits Reporter TOM MANGOLD Camera STEFAN THISSEN Dubbing Mixer DAMIAN REYNOLDS VT Editor BOYD NAGLE Graphic Design NICOLA OWEN Production Team ALEXANDRA CAMERON EMMA CASHMORE SARAH EVA ANJANA SHARMA Production Manager JANE WILLEY Unit Manager IRENE OZGA Film Research NICK DODD Research PETER BYRNE JO DUTTON OLEXIY STEPURA Picture Editor DAVID HOWELL Directed & Produced by EWA EWART Editor FIONA MURCH 00.43.37 Voice over Next week – Addicted to Arms. Will Self exposes Britain's lucrative arms trade and asks – can we ever learn to kick the habit? 00.43.49 Series Producer SIMON FINCH BBC © BBC MMII 00.43.55 End BBC Correspondent 1 1