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10 more criminal cases opened against former Ukrainian premier

Timoshenko is accused of making arragements for giving a bribe to Supreme Court judges in 2003. One case was opened over exceeding of authority

KIEV, December 7 (Itar-Tass) — Ukraine's Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin said ten more criminal cases have been opened against former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko. Three cases are handled by investigators at the Prosecutor General's Office, six by representatives of the State Customs Service, and one by the Ukrainian Security Service.

Timoshenko is accused of making arragements for giving a bribe to Supreme Court judges in 2003. One case was opened over exceeding of authority.

"As a lawmaker, Timoshenko, together with her colleagues, forced her way into the building of Kiev's remand prison # 13 in 2003. She obstructed the normal operation of the facility, threatened remand prison personnel and inflicted injuries on an officer.

Timoshenko is suspected of misuse of funds received from the sale of greenhouse gas emission quotas and purchase of Opel Combo vehicles at overstated prices.

The tax service is investigating several Timoshenko's tax evasion cases in the period from 1997 through 1999, involving concealment of hard currency and misappropriation of budget funds.

The Security Service is running a pre-trial investigation into the fact of Timoshenko's squandering 405 million dollars of state funds.

On October 11, the ex premier was sentenced within the so-called "gas" case to seven years in prison, with a three-year ban on government jobs and a 189-million-dollar fine in favor of the Naftogaz Ukrainy company.

Judge Rodion Kireyev said there was evidence that the signing of the contacts between Russia's gas giant Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukrainy - contrary to the agreements concluded by the previous Cabinet -- "took place solely due to Yulia Timoshenko's illegitimate and individual actions."

On October 13, head of the main investigation department of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) Ivan Derevyanko stated that a new criminal case had been opened against former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko for making a 405.5-million-dollar debt of the Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) a liability of the country's budget.

Timoshenko headed the UESU corporation in 1995-1997. In June 2011, the ex premier stated there were no debts to the Russian Defense Ministry.

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