KIEV, Aug 20: Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko on Monday called for a freeze on a sweeping privatisation programme of state-run firms ahead of legislative elections next month, saying the deals could be shady.

“During this period, which is sensitive from a political point of view, it is not worth our while to initiate or organise” fresh privatisation schemes, he told a news conference.

Yushchenko had earlier during his presidency said he would review privatisation schemes undertaken during the regime of his predecessor Leonid Kuchma.

“I am absolutely convinced that the executive and the State Property Fund are not capable of executing an impartial and objective privatisation,” said the pro-Western president, who is at loggerheads with his Moscow-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

The government wants to put up state-run giants and initiate a “scramble for the spoils” before the polls, Yuschenko said, adding that he was opposed to the sale of the Odessa Port Factory. Ukraine’s State Property Fund is planning to put up 99.52 per cent of the Odessa Port Factory for sale at an auction set for October 29. The minimum bid has been fixed at $500 million (370.8 million euros).

In March, the body sold a locomotive factory in the country’s east for $58 million. The deal was criticised as shady both by the president and some sections of the media.

In the first quarter of the year privatisation sales have netted only $60 million against the state’s target of $2 billion for the whole year.—AFP