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Ukrainian court rejects cassation appeal from Timoshenko’s defence

The Ukrainian Security Service has finished the investigation of violations committed by Timoshenko's UESU
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

KIEV, March 5 (Itar-Tass) —— Ukraine’s Higher Administrative Court ruled on Monday, March 5, to uphold the charges brought by the Prosecutor General’s Office and the tax authorities against former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko.

They accused Timoshenko of failure to pay taxes when using funds on credit cards owned by the company Somolli Enterprise Limited in the 1990s.

The court decision thus rejected a complaint from Timoshenko’s lawyers who had appealed against an appellate court’s ruling that cancelled a lower-tier court decision of February 1, 2005 to close the case involving the Somolli Enterprise Limited credit cards.

On October 20, 2011, the Prosecutor General’s Office cancelled the decision to close the criminal case against Timoshenko in which she was charged with embezzlement of more than 25 million hryvnia (more than 10 million U.S. dollars at the exchange rate of 1995-1997, when Timoshenko headed the Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine), tax evasion in the amount of more than 20 million hryvnia by using a criminal financial scheme for settlements with the Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine for natural gas and by concealing incomes from the operations of her offshore company Somolli Enterprise Limited from taxation.

The Ukrainian Security Service has finished the investigation of violations committed by Timoshenko's UESU.

On October 11, 2011, Kiev's Pechersky District Court sentenced Yulia Timoshenko to seven years in prison and upheld Naftogaz Ukrainy's lawsuit seeking compensation of 1.516 billion hryvnia (189.5 million U.S. dollars) for damage sustained by the company as a result of the gas contracts signed with Russia in 2009.

The head of the tax police main investigation department, Anatoly Yakovinets, said, on November 14, 2011 that the criminal case against Timoshenko with regard to her activities in the United Energy Systems of Ukraine contained enough proofs for new charges.

They confirmed in particular Timoshenko's signature in several documents and auditors' findings on losses.

On October 11, 2011, Timoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for having acted in excess of her powers which had resulted in damage to the national interests of the country.

Timoshenko has also been barred from holding public positions for three years and has to pay a penalty of 189 million U.S. dollars in damages to Naftogaz Ukrainy.

In late December 2011, Timoshenko was transferred from the investigation prison to a penal colony in the eastern Kharkov region.