You're reading: New Tymoshenko trial begins in Kharkiv

A district court in Kharkiv is opening preliminary hearings on April 19 of a criminal case, started against Ukraine's ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, on counts of committing financial frauds during her tenure as head of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine corporation (UESU) in the late 1990s.

Tymoshenko, sentenced to seven years in jail under the gas case in October 2011, and serving her term at a prison in Kharkiv, refused to attend the preliminary hearings, citing health problems and she filed a relevant letter to the State Penitentiary Service.

Under the fresh criminal case Tymoshenko stands charged on several counts: large-scale misappropriation of state assets in 1997-98 by illegally getting a VAT refund, an attempt to misappropriate large state assets in 1997-98 by illegally getting a VAT refund, tax evasion and fraud.

These offenses were preceded by the failure to transfer of foreign currency proceeds from metal exports, estimated at over $160 million, to the state budget.

Prosecutors claimed that during her tenure as UESU top manager and while being its actual owner, Tymoshenko attempted to squander large state assets in collusion with ex-prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko, by shifting the UESU’s obligations to the Russian Defense Ministry, worth $405.5 million, over to the Cabinet.