Full US$765,000 bail paid for Ukrainian party leader Tymoshenko

The full bail amount of UAH 33 million (about US$765,000) has been paid for the Batkivshchyna party leader, Yuliia Tymoshenko, who is suspected of offering bribes to MPs and for whom the court imposed a preventive measure in the form of bail.

Source: Transparency International Ukraine, a corruption watchdog

Details: Transparency International, citing the press service of the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine, reports that the entire bail amount set for Tymoshenko – UAH 33 million – has been paid.

Previously:

Ukrainska Pravda reported that part of this sum – more than UAH 12 million (US$278,000) – had already been paid on 20 January. Of this amount, UAH 5 million (US$116,000) was paid by Serhii Vitaliiovych Rabchuk, and UAH 8.65 million (US$200,600) by Oksana Volodymyrivna Fetisova, who are linked to one of Batkivshchyna's main sponsors, MP Kostiantyn Bondariev.

On 21 January, Tymoshenko said she would file a complaint with law enforcement agencies regarding the actions of detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and prosecutors from the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).

Background:

• On the evening of Tuesday 13 January, NABU and SAPO 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 a leader of the parliamentary faction had been exposed for allegedly offering unlawful benefits to several MPs from other factions in exchange for voting for or against specific draft laws.
• The case has been classified under Article 369.4 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (offering, promising or giving an unlawful benefit).
• On the morning of 14 January, sources in political circles told Ukrainska Pravda that anti-corruption agencies had served Tymoshenko with a notice of suspicion.
• Later, Tymoshenko confirmed that searches had been carried out at her party's office but said she rejected all accusations. She later stated that the searches at her office had begun at 21:30 on 13 January, when she was alone on the premises. She claimed that anti-corruption officers had arrived in five minibuses, acted without a court warrant and had not allowed her to call a lawyer. They also searched the locked office of Serhii Vlasenko, an MP from her political party.
• NABU and SAPO officially announced that Yuliia Tymoshenko had been served with a notice of suspicion over allegations of offering unlawful benefits to MPs on a regular basis.
• In the recordings released by NABU, Tymoshenko is heard discussing with an unidentified MP a payment system for specific votes in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament).
• Ahead of the High Anti-Corruption Court hearing, Tymoshenko said that the tapes released by NABU had been fabricated, as such a conversation had "never happened in [her] life".
• Later, Tymoshenko said she had never offered MPs money for voting and would never do so.

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