Yevhen Shcherban  Yevhen Shcherban (, 18 January 1946 – 3 November 1996) was a Ukrainian businessman and politician. As a member of the Liberal Party of Ukraine, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada from the Volnovakha electoral district in Donetsk Oblast. Became the most widely known for relating to the Shcherban Affair which is used as a political blackmail in Ukraine since 2003. Yevhen Shcherban was born in the village of Kostyantynivka in Krasnokutsk Raion (today - an urbanized settlement) on 18 January 1948. From 1972-77 he studied at the Mining Industrial College in Donetsk, later - in the Donetsk National Technical University. Until 1988 Shcherban worked as a mining engineering and after the independence of Ukraine he established a cooperative organization "Progress" and later a corporation "ATON". Among other companies that associated with his name were "Gefest" (today "Parallel"), "Finansist", "AMEST" and others. In the mid-1990s, Shcherban was among the richest people in Ukraine and prominent and influential member of parliament for the Liberal Party of Ukraine. He and his wife Nadezhda (née Nikitina) were assassinated on a runway at Donetsk Airport on 3 November 1996 by several men posing as public force officers. Among the killers were Vadim Bolotskikh, Gennadiy Zangelidi and others. Prosecutors have stated the murder was intended to eliminate competition for control of Ukraine’s natural gas industry. In 2002, eight men were arrested and tried for the murder. All of them were found guilty, with three receiving life sentences. Coincidentally, the event took place soon after replacement of the Governor of Donetsk Oblast Volodymyr Shcherban (no relation to Yevhen) with the former Minister of Coal Industry of Ukraine Serhiy Polyakov and the appointment of Viktor Yanukovych to the position of a deputy chairman. Previously, in December 1995, when Serhiy Polyakov was appointed to the ministerial position in Donetsk, the Industrial Union of Donbas (ISD) was established. Headed by Serhiy Taruta, many however saw the real leader of the Union as Yevhen Shcherban. Preceding that in October 1995 another no less important assassination of Akhat Bragin took place. Since then a number of assassinations of lesser ISD members took place from January to July 1996.