You're reading: Bohoslovska sure it won’t take much time to prove Tymoshenko’s guilt in signing gas contracts

The head of the parliament's temporary commission investigating the signing of gas agreements, Inna Bohoslovska, has said he is sure that former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko abused power.

"This criminal case should not take much time for the Prosecutor General’s Office, because all the facts and all of the necessary documents are available. And even the most ordinary, legally incompetent people will understand that Tymoshenko abused power and signed the directives that were not approved at a Cabinet of Ministers meeting, and, therefore, she must be called to account under Part 3, Article 365 of the Criminal Code, as has been announced by the Prosecutor General’s Office," she said.

Bohoslovska noted that Tymoshenko had signed the directives of the Cabinet of Ministers, under which Ukraine signed the most disadvantageous gas contract in its history.

"The conditions proposed by Russia were rejected by all government members, and in this connection the directives were not voted for at a government meeting," she said.

"According to the law, the prime minister had no right to issue the directives individually."

Bohoslovska said that the UAH 1.5 billion figure given for damages to the state mentioned in the resolution on the opening of a criminal case against Tymoshenko was the smallest of all the figures and calculations conducted by experts.

"Until January 19, 2009, Ukraine imported Russian gas at $179.50 per 1,000 cubic meters. In an effort to become president, the BYT leader forged the directives and bargained one year of grace for herself, but even in this grace, pre-election year, the average gas price was $60 per 1,000 cubic meters higher than before. As a result of the Moscow agreements, Russia received all the preferences from the contract, whereas Ukraine suffered huge losses," she said.

In her opinion, Tymoshenko’s supporters, in order to hide these facts, are trying to manipulate public opinion.

"Tymoshenko, as an adventurer with great experience, is again trying to deceive people and say that the price was lower under her [premiership]. But she signed the agreement not for 2009, but for ten years, for 2009-2018. And if Ukraine had not received a discount on gas at $100 per 1,000 cubic meters as a result of the Kharkiv agreements, the situation with energy supplies would have been even more deplorable. I’d like to recall that in the second quarter of 2011 the price of imported gas will be $297.98 per 1,000 cubic meters, in the third quarter it is projected at $348, and in the fourth – $388. This is with a discount. Without the discount, according to the agreements signed under Tymoshenko’s directives, we would have to buy gas at $397.98 per 1,000 cubic meters in the second quarter, $448 in the third and $488 in the fourth," Bohoslovska said.