Instead of meeting the conditions of the EU for the signing of the association agreement, the ruling party is inventing new lies every day to explain their unwillingness to release Yulia Tymoshenko, the ex-premier's defense counsel Serhiy Vlasenko has said, according to the Official web site of Yulia Tymoshenko.
"It's absolutely clear that all 'predecessors' in government are to blame for everything and the Party of Regions is faultless," Serhiy Vlasenko said, commenting on information from the ruling party that the Russian Federation has filed a lawsuit with the Stockholm arbitrage court "concerning Yulia Tymoshenko's gas contracts."
The defender recalled that Yulia Tymoshenko did not sign the gas contracts in question. "The contracts were signed by Naftohaz Chairman Oleh Dubyna (against whom criminal charges were dropped). In Yulia Tymoshenko's directives there was no hint of the principle 'take or pay' or fines. This was all added to the contract by Naftohaz, which drafted the contract," he said.
Serhiy Vlasenko noted that the contract was approved by the Naftohaz board on January 28, 2009, and by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on January 20, 2009.
"This was a standard contract for all Gazprom consumers. Moreover, some countries (such as the Czech Republic ) through the courts not only had this part of the contracts invalidated (on 'take or pay' and fines), but also obtained from Gazprom the money they overpaid. A number of countries (such as Poland) regulated this issue through negotiations. Our 'grandpas in government are impotent negotiators' – for three year they've been talking only about 'predecessors' and not doing anything," Yulia Tymoshenko's defense counsel said.
It was earlier learned that the Ministry of Revenue and Duties of Ukraine is trying through judicial proceedings abroad to tie Yulia Tymoshenko to corruption that was allegedly proved in court. On November 4, Yulia Tymoshenko's defense refused this information, calling it the latest round of manipulation by the government aimed at sabotaging the signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
Serhiy Vlasenko showed journalists a copy of the U.S. court’s ruling from May 7, 2004 in the case of former Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Lazarenko. "Yulia Tymoshenko’s name isn’t mentioned here at all. The role of UESU and Somali Enterprises was clearly established by the American court. The court determined that these claims were unfounded. The American court found that neither UESU nor Somali was involved in any corrupt deals," he said.
