Ukraine's Higher Administrative Court has rejected a complaint lodged by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, thus recognizing as legitimate the decision to impose a fine on her for the illegal use of funds from the plastic cards of Somolli Enterprises Limited.
The court announced such a ruling on Monday, having considered complaints filed by Tymoshenko and her lawyers against a ruling of Kyiv’s Administrative Court of Appeals. Thus, the Higher Administrative Court considered legitimate claims by the prosecutor’s office and the tax service against the ex-premier regarding the non-payment of taxes when using funds from the plastic cards of Somolli Enterprises Limited.
"Tymoshenko’s cassation appeal has been left unsatisfied. The ruling of Kyiv’s Administrative Court of Appeal and a ruling of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv remain unchanged," reads the decision.
The court announced on Monday only the operative part of the decision, and its full text will be announced in five days.
As reported, in July 2011, First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin said that the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office has documents confirming that Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko spent nearly $1 million for her personal use and on bribery.
Kuzmin said that the United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) Corporation had illegally sent payments for gas received from Ukrainian clients to the accounts of United Energy International. United Energy International, in turn, "transferred nearly $140 million to the accounts of Cyprus-based Somolli Enterprises."
"In future, Tymoshenko and her associates used the UESU enterprises controlled by them and Somolli Enterprises to make payments for Lazarenko of at least $162 million," Kuzmin said.
In addition, he said that the Prosecutor General’s Office had documents confirming that Tymoshenko had spent the money.
"The investigators have documents confirming the transfer of money from Somolli Enterprises to the disposal of Tymoshenko. We have a bank card and a copy of the document on expenditures made by Tymoshenko from this card," he said.
On October 20, 2011, the Prosecutor General’s Office cancelled the "illegal decision to close a criminal case [in 2005] against Yulia Tymoshenko regarding the embezzlement of budget funds of over UAH 25 million and the evasion of taxes amounting to over UAH 20 million through the introduction of a criminal financial scheme regarding payments for natural gas corporation by the UESU corporation and the concealment of the taxation of income from the activities of its offshore company, Somolli Enterprises Limited."
"The Supreme Court of Ukraine did not consider decisions on the closure of criminal cases in 2005, and petitions lodged by defense lawyer Viktor Shvets in the interests of Yulia Tymoshenko and other people were rejected," the prosecutor’s office said.
Tymoshenko was convicted of exceeding her powers as prime minister by railroading through a gas deal with Russia in 2009 which the Yanukovych leadership says saddled Ukraine with a huge price for gas that has become a millstone for the economy.
