Ukrainian Prosecutors Say Tymoshenko Faces Four More Criminal Probes

Yulia Tymoshenko

Ukraine's prosecutor-general says investigations have been launched into four additional criminal cases against jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Speaking to Kyiv-based "Fokus" magazine, prosecutor Viktor Pshonka said "it has been proven that $2 million were transferred from Tymoshenko-controlled bank accounts to organizers of the 1996 murder of lawmaker Yevhen Shcherban."

The wealthy Shcherban and his wife were gunned down in Donetsk in November 1996, in a case prosecutors linked to a struggle over control of energy resources.

Pshonka said another case concerns debts owed the Russian Defense Ministry by an energy firm led by Tymoshenko in the mid-1990s.

Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison in October for abuse of power.

Her supporters say she is a victim of politically motivated prosecutions.

Based on reporting by focus.ua and UNIAN