Kyiv Court of Appeals has cancelled a ruling by the Pechersky District Court to return the case against former Deputy Chairman of Naftogaz Ukrainy Ihor Didenko and former Head of the State Customs Service of Ukraine Anatoliy Makarenko to the prosecutor's office.
The court submitted the case for a new judicial hearing by another panel of judges of Pechersky District Court.
"The ruling of the Pechersky District Court must be cancelled, while the case must be submitted for a new judicial hearing by another panel of judges of the Pechersky District Court," the judge said, announcing the ruling.
Thus, the court satisfied an appeal lodged by the city’s prosecutor’s office against a ruling of the Pechersky District Court, which returned the case against Didenko and Makarenko to the prosecutor’s office.
On April 26, 2011, the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv sent the case against Didenko, Makarenko and Shepitko to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO).
The court announced its decision after considering an appeal by the accused requesting the return of the case to the PGO so as to change the sentence, due to the opening of a criminal case on the 2009 gas contracts against former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The court explained its decision by the fact that "the same events and conditions" are being investigated in the criminal cases against Didenko, Makarenko and Tymoshenko.
The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce obliged Naftogaz on June 8, 2010 to return to RosUkrEnergo 11 billion cubic meters of gas and also pay it a penalty of 1.1 billion cubic meters of gas, as stipulated by the contract.
The Ukrainian Security Service completed its pre-trial investigation into a criminal case against the Naftogaz of Ukrainy and the State Customs Service officials charged with misappropriating gas belonging to the Swiss-based gas trader RosUkrEnergo and its illegal customs clearance in February-March 2009.
The Security Service believes the investigators had gathered enough evidence to prove the defendants’ guilt.
Didenko, Makarenko, and Shepitko have been arrested under this case.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office opened a third criminal case against Tymoshenko in April this year, this time around on charges of abuse of office in concluding the gas contracts with Russia in 2009, which, according to the investigation, caused damages amounting to Hr 1.5 billion to the state.
