Vadym Hetman

Infobox Politician
name = Vadym Hetman
Вадим Гетьман
caption = Vadym Hetman's portrait.


width = 200px
height = 200px
office = Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine
term_start = March 24, 1992
term_end = 1993
predecessor = Volodymyr Matvienko
successor = Viktor Yushchenko
birth_date = July 12, 1935
birth_place = flagicon|Ukrainian SSR Snityn, Ukrainian SSR
death_date = death date and age|1998|4|22|1935|7|12
death_place = flagicon|Ukraine Kiev, Ukraine
relations = Wife and two children
party = None; Independent
occupation = Statesman and prominent banker

Vadym Petrovych Hetman ( _uk. Вадим Петрович Гетьман) (July 12, 1935 in Snityn, Poltava Oblast—April 22, 1998 in Kiev) was a Ukrainian statesman and prominent banker. He is credited with the creation of the central bank of the country, the National Bank of Ukraine.

He was assassinated in April 1998 in his home in Kiev. The crime was apparently paid for by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko. He was posthumously conferred the title of Hero of Ukraine on July 11, 2005.

Early life

Vadym Petrovych Hetman was born in the village of Snityn, located in Poltava Oblast (at the time, the Ukrainian SSR), in 1935.cite web |url=http://www.rada.gov.ua/zakon/new/DEPUTAT1/425.htm |title=Biography of people's deputy |accessdate=2007-04-25 |work=Verkhovna Rada website ]

In 1956, he finished the Kiev Finanial-Economic Institute, after which he worked in various financial institutions in Zaporizhia Oblast. In 1975, Vadym Hetman was named the first vice-president to the Head of the Government Committee of Pricing of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1987, he became the head of the Agricultural-Industrial Bank of the Ukrainian SSR (since 1990 — Bank "Ukraine").

Banker and politician

On March 24, 1992, Vadym Hetman was accepted as the Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine. [cite web |url=http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/cgi-bin/laws/main.cgi?nreg=2228%2D12 |title=On the Head of the National Bank of Ukraine |accessdate=2007-04-25 |date= |month=March 24 |year= 1992| |work=Verkhovna Rada website ] He supervised early monetary reforms in newly independent Ukraine through 1993, when he resigned from his position as the head of the supervisory board of the National Bank. However, he maintained close ties with his successor, Viktor Yushchenko. Interestingly, Hetman's signature appears on the original banknotes of Ukraine's national currency, the hryvnia, which was introduced only in September of 1996.

Hetman was also a member of the Verkhovna Rada ("Ukraine's parliament") from 1990 to 1998. He went for his second term as deputy in 1994 from the Talne electoral district of Cherkasy Oblast, but as a nonpartisan. He received 50.97 % of the vote in the first round of voting.

He ran for his third term in March of 1998, but failed to get re-elected, receiving only 21.85 % of the vote, 3.87 % below the required percentage to win. His challenging opponent in the parliamentary election was the first vice-president of the Minister of Information of Ukraine, Mykhailo Onofryichuk. [cite web |url=http://www.zn.ua/1000/1050/16453/ |author=Drobiazko, Anatoliy |title=This country now has less choice |accessdate=2007-04-25 |date= |month=May 1-April 25 |year=1998 |work=Zerkalo Nedeli |language=Russian ]

He is also known to have complained to the then President Leonid Kuchma about voting irregularities within the parliament itself.

Assassination

Hetman was shot by an apparently professional killer in the elevator of his own apartment block in Kiev ("Kyiv") on April 22, 1998.

An alleged assassin, a 29-year-old Serhiy Kulev, and member of the "Bandy Kushnera" clan of the Donbas, was only found in 2002. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment without bond in April of 2003. The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has claimed that the assassination was ordered and paid for by Pavlo Lazarenko, a former Ukrainian Prime Minister.cite web |url=http://news.pravda.ru/economics/2004/03/02/60874.html |title=Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Lazarenko appeared to be a killer |accessdate=2007-04-25 |date= |year=2004 |month=March 2 |work=Pravda |language=Russian ]

Despite the Luhansk City Court's verdict, the case remains far from being certain. In early August of 2005, the media reported that the convict filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Ukraine on grounds that he had been forced to make a false confession. His lawyer subsequently made a public statement that the case was entirely fabricated.

Awards and legacy

Vadym Hetman was posthumously conferred the title of Hero of Ukraine by President Yushchenko on July 11, 2005. [cite web |url=http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/cgi-bin/laws/main.cgi?nreg=1072%2F2005 |title=On the naming of Vadym Hetman as Hero of Ukraine |accessdate=2007-04-25 |date= |year=2005 |month=July 11 |work=Verkhovna Rada website |language=Ukrainian ]

On July 12, 2005, a memorial plate was established in his honour on House № 13, where Hetman lived and was assassinated.

In 2005, The Kiev National Economic University was renamed in honour of Vadym Hetman, which he attended in the 1950s.

On April 19, 2006, the "Industrial Street" in Kiev was renamed in his honour. [cite web |url=http://prezident.gov.ua/news/data/1645.html |title=In Kiev, a street was renamed in honour of Vadym Hetman |accessdate=2007-04-25 |date= |year=2005 |month=July 11 |work=Official website of the President of Ukraine |language=Ukrainian]

A regatta cup, "Vadym Hetman Cup" bears his name.

References

External links

* [http://www.bank.gov.ua National Bank of Ukraine] — official website
* [http://www.hetman-cup.org/en/index.phtml Vadym Hetman Cup] — official website

Persondata
NAME= Hetman, Vadym Petrovych
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Вадим Петрович Гетьман
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Statesman and banker
DATE OF BIRTH= July 12, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH= Snityn, Poltava Oblast
DATE OF DEATH= April 22, 1998
PLACE OF DEATH= Kiev, Ukraine