Former Prosecutor General of Ukraine (1998-2002) Mykhailo Potebenko has said that the investigation into a criminal case against former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, in which Yulia Tymoshenko was mentioned, has been restarted.
"As far as I know, instructions on the closure of the case against Lazarenko were cancelled and the materials have been sent for additional investigation. I raised a question about the irresponsibility of the officials that admitted falsification. Why did they do that? I think that Prosecutor General of Ukraine [Viktor] Pshonka will investigate this. I also officially reported to him," he said in an interview to the Comments Weekly.
Potebenko explained that when the case was closed he reported to the prosecutor general, Oleksandr Medvedko.
"It is wrong that the investigation came to such a conclusion and ignored the key witnesses’ evidence, moreover the evidence of the key witnesses was misinterpreted. This is an unacceptable falsification," he said.
The former prosecutor general also commented on his attitude towards the current case against Tymoshenko: "As for the current case against Tymoshenko, I completely rely on the law enforcers. I don’t take interest in this case, so as not to give any reason for gossip."
As reported, Lazarenko has been accused of money laundering and other crimes.
In 2001 the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine accused Tymoshenko of gas smuggling, yjr forgery of documents, tax evasion, bribing Ex-Premier Lazarenko and large-scaled embezzlement. All the charges relate to the period when Tymoshenko headed the Unified Energy System of Ukraine corporation.
