John
01-27-2011, 09:31 PM
Ukrainian prosecutors said Thursday they had opened a new criminal probe against former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko on suspicion of abusing power while in office.
She is accused of exceeding her authority in a purchase of 1,000 new Opel Combo vans for the health service that lost the state some $8.3 million dollars, the prosecutors said in a statement.
Officials said they had no immediate plans of placing the former Orange Revolution leader under arrest.
"To date, there is no reason to arrest her," said prosecutor Olexander Kalifistky.
The charismatic former cabinet chief is accused of using the cars to support her presidential campaign against arch-rival Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Moscow leader who was elected to head the former Soviet republic in February 2010.
The charges also say that the vans were bought at 20 percent more than the market price, and the "so-called ambulances" were not appropriate for transporting the sick on stretchers.
The Western-leaning Tymoshenko is already being probed for using money earmarked in the state budget for environmental spending to cover Ukraine's massive pension arrears in times of economic crisis.
It remains unclear when and if the cases will be brought to court. Although she is still at liberty, Tymoshenko has been forced to pledge not to leave Kiev.
She has dismissed the charges as a vendetta pursued by Yanukovych and his aides against the leaders of the 2004 uprising which annulled rigged elections he initially claimed to have won.
Her former environment minister, interior minister and deputy justice minister have all been arrested over the last weeks in corruption probes.
The US embassy last year raised alarm over Ukraine's detention of the ex-ministers, expressing concern they might be the victims of "selective prosecution of political opponents."
Source - Yahoo.
She is accused of exceeding her authority in a purchase of 1,000 new Opel Combo vans for the health service that lost the state some $8.3 million dollars, the prosecutors said in a statement.
Officials said they had no immediate plans of placing the former Orange Revolution leader under arrest.
"To date, there is no reason to arrest her," said prosecutor Olexander Kalifistky.
The charismatic former cabinet chief is accused of using the cars to support her presidential campaign against arch-rival Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Moscow leader who was elected to head the former Soviet republic in February 2010.
The charges also say that the vans were bought at 20 percent more than the market price, and the "so-called ambulances" were not appropriate for transporting the sick on stretchers.
The Western-leaning Tymoshenko is already being probed for using money earmarked in the state budget for environmental spending to cover Ukraine's massive pension arrears in times of economic crisis.
It remains unclear when and if the cases will be brought to court. Although she is still at liberty, Tymoshenko has been forced to pledge not to leave Kiev.
She has dismissed the charges as a vendetta pursued by Yanukovych and his aides against the leaders of the 2004 uprising which annulled rigged elections he initially claimed to have won.
Her former environment minister, interior minister and deputy justice minister have all been arrested over the last weeks in corruption probes.
The US embassy last year raised alarm over Ukraine's detention of the ex-ministers, expressing concern they might be the victims of "selective prosecution of political opponents."
Source - Yahoo.