A senior ally of Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian president-elect, has accused the outgoing administration of President Leonid Kuchma of using delays in the transfer of power to make unbudgeted spending commitments and to "steal" state assets.

Petro Poroshenko, the chairman of the parliamentary budget committee and a contender for the prime minister's office in a Yushchenko administration, told the Financial Times that officials were illegally privatising state assets and distributing property on long-term leases.