You're reading: Tymoshenko sues gas trader in US court (updated)

Ukraine's embattled former Premier Yulia Tymoshenko said Wednesday that she has filed a lawsuit in a U.S. court against a controversial company over alleged corruption in natural gas trade with Russia.

Tymoshenko, who herself is under investigation for alleged financial misdeeds, filed the lawsuit in a New York federal court against Swiss-based RosUkrEnergo, which is jointly owned by Russia’s energy giant Gazprom and Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash.

She is seeking to reverse last year’s decision by the Stockholm Arbitration Court that obliged the Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz to hand back 12.1 billion cubic meters of cubic gas to the trader.

Tymoshenko has become Ukraine’s top opposition leader after losing last year’s presidential election to her bitter foe Viktor Yanukovych.

She has been charged with misallocating several hundreds of millions of dollars as part of an internationally criticized investigation into alleged financial misdeeds while in office.

Tymoshenko denies the allegations and contends the investigation is part of Yanukovych’s campaign to silence the opposition.

The suit was filed in the U.S. court under a law that enables foreigners to seek damages for violations of international human rights laws.

Tymoshenko’s office gave no further details.

RosUkrEnergo refused immediate comment on the lawsuit.