KIEV, March 24 – The Prosecutor General's office has conducted 32 searches at the firms connected with ex-energy and coal industry minister Eduard Stavytsky and ex-agrarian policy and food minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk.

Jewelry and millions of dollars in cash were seized. The chief accountant of the firms controlled by Stavytsky was detained.

"When a search was being conducted in an apartment formerly owned by Stavytsky and, from March 15, by a legal entity, two safes and files of documents were discovered. A woman was caught in the act of destroying documents. Police had to use force after the woman offered resistance," acting prosecutor general Oleh Makhnitsky said at a press briefing in Kiev on Saturday.