Protesters in Ukraine Seek Punishment for Graft in Military

(Bloomberg) -- Protesters in the Ukrainian capital on Saturday called for President Petro Poroshenko’s ally and his son to be held to account in an investigation over alleged embezzlement of funds in the military.

The rally in Kiev was organized by a nationalist party, Natsionalnyi Korpus, and attracted about 2,000 people, according to the Unian news agency. Demonstrators tried to break through police cordons near the presidential administration building and three officers were injured in clashes, Kiev police said on Facebook.

Ukraine’s anti-graft bureau opened two probes last month into the misappropriation of state funds assigned to the military. Poroshenko dismissed ally Oleh Hladkovskyi on March 4 from the post of deputy head of the National Security and Defense Council following accusations by investigative journalists of being part of a group that engaged in military embezzlement. He and his son, also the focus of the report, have denied the allegations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kateryna Choursina in Kiev at kchoursina@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Scott Rose at rrose10@bloomberg.net, Stephen Kirkland, Jon Menon

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