Serhiy Horbatiuk, the investigator of a criminal case against opposition Batkivschyna Party leader and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, has said that no pressure is being placed on him during the investigation.
“Of course, I don’t feel under any pressure. The main thing is to observe the Criminal and Procedural Code,” he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday, and noted that “this is not an easy criminal case” as it causes political resonance among people and this is the reason why he had met with journalists.
When asked by reporters what it is like to work with Tymoshenko, Horbatiuk said that “there are no problems in cooperation.”
“I don’t know what sort of a person she is in real life, but she is non-confrontational with me,” he said.
Earlier, Horbatiuk said he sees no reason to detain Tymoshenko.
On Dec. 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 Dec. 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 Dec. 31, while on Dec. 30, she spent about 11 hours there.
Tymoshenko was again summoned to the investigator for questioning at 15:00 on January 5.
