"Minister of Fuel and Energy Yuriy Boyko has direct ties to RosUkrEnergo, and the documents that I would like to hand over to those in charge of the temporary investigative committee prove this. In my hands is a power of attorney signed in the city of Kyiv by which Mr. Dmytro Firtash, who doesn’t hide that he is the owner of RosUkrEnergo, gave Mr. Boyko full rights to his shares," Yulia Tymoshenko said during a meeting of the special committee.
The former prime minister also provided the committee with the minutes of the annual RosUkrEnergo management meeting "during which Gazprom was represented by four people, and the other company that founded RosUkrEnergo – Centragaz – represented the Ukrainian side. The founders of Centragaz that were present at the RosUkrEnergo annual meeting were represented by Yuriy Boyko. In other words, he represented a private company that founded RosUkrenergo at the same time that he was the head of Naftohaz, when all these corrupt deals in Ukraine were being created."
Tymoshenko also provided the committee with the purchase-sale agreement for the 1.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas. "This is the purchase-sale agreement with Gazprom that outlines the purchase of this gas and the payment for it. I would like to give the committee this document because it includes all the signed acts of transfer for this gas between Gazprom and Ukraine, indicating that Naftohaz bought this gas absolutely legally."
Other documents presented by Yulia Tymoshenko included the decision by the Shevchenkivsky District Court in Kyiv on the legal customs clearance by Naftohaz of 11 billion cubic meters of gas. "The people against whom criminal cases have been opened, customs officials, the managers of Naftohaz, including Didenko and the head of the energy customs service, appealed to the Shevchenkivsky District Court against the criminal gas and certain procedures."
"The Shevchenkivsky District Court ruled that the customs service and Naftohaz acted legally when clearing through customs for Naftohaz the 11 billion cubic meters of gas that RosUkrEnergo now wants," explained the former prime minister.
"I would like to present agreement 14-935-3/4 – this is the agreement that was signed in 2004 and is the key piece of evidence on the corruption of the officials and owners of RosUkrEnergo. One of the clauses of this agreement indicates that Naftohaz acted according to the law. Clauses 5.6, 5.7 and 5.8 directly say that if RosUkrEnergo, which is an intermediary between Gazprom and Naftohaz, doesn’t pay for something, then Naftohaz can make this payment, as well as claim the gas and other things that are owned by RosUkrEnergo."
The former prime minister also provided the committee with the conclusions by an independent international organization regarding RosUkrEnergo's activities. "Back when RosUkrEnergo began its corrupt deals in Ukraine and other European countries, at the request of many European countries, Global Witness, an international group that has no connection to Ukraine, investigated RosUkrEnergo’s activities. It reached the conclusion that RosUkrEnergo is a large shadow company that made its shadow money as an intermediary in natural gas deals, and which did so illegally, dishonestly, and corrupted the country’s top political leadership," said Tymoshenko.
In addition, Yulia Tymoshenko warned that Ukraine’s financial system risks destabilization should the Stockholm arbitration court’s ruling calling for RosUkrEnergo to be compensated for 11.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas issued in 2009 to Naftohaz of Ukraine be carried out.
"If $5.4 billion is taken from Ukraine then this will certainly result in an increase in gas prices for the population in the near future, and will affect the stability of the national currency. If they take this money from the state it will affect that stability of payments from the state budget of money for the Pension Fund, money for salaries, for support of the real sector of the economy," Yulia Tymoshenko said today during a meeting of the temporary parliamentary committee investigating the decision by the Stockholm arbitration court.
The former prime minister highlighted that the amount to be compensated is equal to 20% of the State Budget. "It’s clear that when such a sum is taken from the country, then it becomes lost. They need to clearly say where this $5.4 billion will go. This is the largest corrupt deal to ever be carried out by the ruling government in all of Ukraine’s independence."
Tymoshenko thanked the committee for the openness of its activities and attempt to investigate the situation objectively. "I’m very grateful that you’re not remaining silent, that you’re investigating this publicly, and that you’re providing the country with all the relevant information."
"If today’s politicians, law enforcement and courts are so spineless and weak-willed, so incompetent and afraid, and so bribed that they won’t give this a proper assessment, then sooner or later, when power in Ukraine changes, an assessment will be made, because I think any normal country wouldn’t allow a portion of the state’s gold and foreign currency reserves to be taken illegally and without a trade," said Tymoshenko.
