You're reading: Tymoshenko: Yekhanurov’s testimony should not be admitted to the case

Batkivshchyna Party leader and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko believes court testimony given by former Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov shouldn’t be admitted to the case because he is a biased witness and lobbies the interests of RosUkrEnergo.

“We will insist that his testimony can’t be considered in the case because he is biased,” Tymoshenko told journalists today after leaving court on Monday, reads Tymoshenko’s official website.

The ex-premier pointed out that Yuriy Yekhanurov helped RosUkrEnergo enter the gas market and its debt to Gazprom caused the gas crisis in the 2009.

“Yekhanurov, starting in 2005, in gas matters represented not the interests of the sate, not the interests of the country, not Naftohaz as ex-premier, but he, as the media has been saying, was and remains a lobbyist for the corrupt structure RosUkrEnergo. He introduced it an intermediary between Gazprom and Naftohaz for 100% of gas supplies to Ukraine, he has been protecting them this entire time, and now he’s a witness that supports the corrupt structure RosUkrEnergo,” she said.

The “Agreement on settlement of relations in the gas sphere” that made RosUkrEnergo an intermediary in relations between Gazprom and Naftohaz was signed on Jan. 4, 2006 while Yuriy Yekhanurov was prime minister.

He testified today in the trial of Tymoshenko for the prosecution.

Tymoshenko is charged with abusing her powers by signing a natural gas import contract with Russia in 2009 that prosecutors claim was disadvantageous for Ukraine.

Tymoshenko says the contract ended weeks of natural gas disruptions to Ukrainian and European consumers and that she did not need permission to sign it as the country’s premier.

Many Tymoshenko allies also have faced charges recently, which she describes as part of the government’s efforts to weaken the opposition.

Her former economics minister, who faced corruption allegations over the reconstruction of Kyiv’s airport, was granted political asylum in the Czech Republic in January.

A former interior minister has been in jail for six months on charges that he defrauded the government when he paid his driver illegal bonuses.

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