Tymoshenko says her accounts blocked

VALENTYNA ROMANENKO - 15 January, 21:42

Yuliia Tymoshenko. Photo: Tymoshenko on Facebook

Yuliia Tymoshenko, leader of Batkivshchyna parliamentary faction who has been suspected of offering bribes to a number of MPs, has said her bank accounts have been blocked.

Source: Tymoshenko on Facebook

Details: It became known on 15 January that prosecutors will seek bail of UAH 50 million (approx. US$1.15 million) and procedural obligations for Tymoshenko. A court hearing has been scheduled for Friday morning. Tymoshenko says she discovered that her accounts had been blocked.

Quote: "What is surrealism? It's when you plan to pay bail in an openly politically ordered case with money received as compensation for political persecution by a certain short-sighted 'dictator'. But you can't do it because your accounts have been blocked even before a court decision. That's what anti-corruption justice of international fraudsters looks like. You naïve people probably think that with such primitive steps you will force me to flee or stop fighting. You are very much mistaken."

Background:

On the evening of Tuesday 13 January, NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine) and SAPO (Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office) reported that they had uncovered corruption involving the leader of a parliamentary faction. Sources told Ukrainska Pravda that the case concerns Yuliia Tymoshenko.
The anti-corruption bodies stated that Tymoshenko had been exposed for allegedly offering unlawful benefits to several MPs from other factions in exchange for voting for or against specific draft laws.
On the morning of 14 January, sources in political circles told Ukrainska Pravda that anti-corruption agencies had served Yuliia Tymoshenko with a notice of suspicion.
NABU released a recording in which Tymoshenko and an unidentified MP can be heard discussing a scheme for providing payments in exchange for voting a certain way in the Ukrainian parliament.
Tymoshenko herself called the searches a "grand PR stunt" and claimed that they were "cleaning up competitors before the elections". The politician claims that the anti-corruption investigators "found nothing", so they simply took her "work phones, parliamentary documents, and personal savings, information about which is fully reflected in her official declaration". The politician also claims that the recordings released by the anti-corruption investigators are not of her.

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