UKRAINIAN POLICE EXPOSE MONEY-LAUNDERING NETWORK. Tax police have uncovered an underground network that allegedly laundered money for some 3,000 companies, including state-run enterprises, AP reported on 7 January, citing official sources. The network, which operated from Kyiv, received money from interested companies through bank transfers, which it then channeled through fictitious firms for conversion into cash, thereby avoiding taxation. The network's daily turnover amounted to 1 million hryvni ($292,000). Tax evasion is a common practice among Ukrainian firms, which complain that the country's taxes are too high. Last December, the national tax debt totaled 10 billion hryvni--nearly half of budget revenues. JM