Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko did not sign on Saturday a protocol on completing the examination of a criminal case regarding the use of funds allocated to Ukraine under the Kyoto Protocol due to the absence of Prosecutor General's Office investigator Oleksandr Nechvohlod in his office, Tymoshenko's lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko has said.
"Yesterday [June 25] was a deadline for Tymoshenko’s familiarization with the materials of this case. When we arrived at the building of the main investigation department of the Prosecutor General’s Office after about 18000, the security guards at the entrance were very surprised and they told us that they had not seen the investigator in his office since the morning. Of course, we spoke with them, but then we went to the investigators’ office, made sure that there was nobody there and therefore we had to leave," he told Interfax-Ukraine on Sunday.
Vlasenko said that Tymoshenko and her lawyers had had earlier agreed with the investigator about the meeting.
He recalled that during many rounds of Tymoshenko’s questioning, which sometimes lasted for eight or ten hours, the prosecutor’s office had repeatedly explained: "The investigator’s working hours are not fixed, and he works 24 hours a day."
At the same time, Vlasenko said that neither he nor Tymoshenko’s other lawyer, Serhiy Sas, had started examining the materials of the Kyoto case, because they had not yet received any permission from the Prosecutor General’s Office.
He said that the lawyers, unlike the former prime minister, were not limited in time.
"Therefore, if the investigator suddenly decides to submit the case to court, it would be an unprecedented event," Vlasenko said, adding that on June 25, his client was ready to give the investigator a number of petitions regarding her familiarization with the case materials.
As reported, the ex-premier is charged with the misuse of funds received by Ukraine under the Kyoto Protocol, and abuse of office while purchasing Opel Combo vehicles against government guarantees.
On May 23, 2011, Pechersky District Court in Kyiv issued a ruling to set Tymoshenko a deadline for studying the materials of the cases on the Kyoto money and on automobiles for rural medicine. The deadline was June 25.
