KIEV, September 9. /TASS/. The leader of the Batkivshchyna party, ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko told journalists on Wednesday that she has prepared a request to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, in which she accuses the government of "giving corruption structures close to the government" 3.1 billion cubic meters of gas.
"I have drafted a request to the Prosecutor General’s Office. Now I have a statement on crimes that resulted in the formation of speculative prices for gas for Ukraine’s population," Tymoshenko said.
She explained that "instead of giving 3.1 billion cu m to the population, it was given to corruption structures close to the government on the corruption basis."
The politician also said the country’s government and relevant state structures illegally raised domestic prices for gas for the population to the market level despite the fact that Kiev’s memorandum with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) defines that economical prices should be in force only from April 2017.
"Excessive money was charged from people, there are elements of a crime in setting unreasonably high tariffs for gas," Tymoshenko said.
She said that as a result, "billions of hryvnias" were with government assistance "seized from citizens by dishonest means."
Moreover, according to Tymoshenko, the coalition in the Ukrainian national parliament, Verkhovna Rada, should make a decision on the government change.
She said, substantiating her proposal, that "the government has failed the reform and could not get rid of corruption."
Tymoshenko also drew attention to the tight socio-economic situation in which the Ukrainian population has found itself, saying that the "people have been driven to a point of extreme despair."