An investigator for particularly important cases at the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, Serhiy Horbatiuk, who is leading the investigation into a criminal case against Batkivschyna Party leader and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, has said he currently sees no reason to detain her.
"I currently don’t see any such grounds," he said, when asked whether Tymoshenko could be detained.
Horbatiuk noted that the grounds for detention were clearly set out in the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.
The head of the main department for investigating particularly important cases at the Prosecutor General’s Office, Oleksandr Kalifitsky, said that there were no grounds to detain a person who had not violated travel restrictions.
As reported, on December 20, the Prosecutor General’s Office filed charges against Tymoshenko that she, while holding the post of prime minister, "single-handedly decided to use part of the funds earned through the sale of greenhouse gas emission quotas to cover the Ukrainian state budget’s expenditures – primarily pension commitments." The total amount of misused funds is EUR 380 million. Tymoshenko was banned from travelling outside Kyiv.
According to the Cabinet of Ministers, Tymoshenko’s order to convert the funds allocated under the Kyoto Protocol into the national currency caused nearly Hr 1 million worth of losses to the state budget.
On December 30, the Prosecutor General’s Office completed the investigation into the criminal case opened against Tymoshenko. She was charged with committing a crime envisaged by Part, Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of power or office that entailed grave consequences).
Tymoshenko last visited the main investigation department on December 31, while on December 30, she spent about 11 hours there.
Tymoshenko was again summoned to the investigator for questioning at 1500 on January 5.
