'Lukash case' suspect and witness reports on pressure by government investigators
KYIV. March 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) puts pressure on the defendants in the case against ex-Justice Minister Olena Lukash in order to obtain necessary incriminating evidence, the witness and suspect in the case and her lawyers have said..
The witness in criminal proceedings on charges against Lukash, director of European Law Group LLC Viktoria Skorokhod, said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine that her company conducted a study in the field of biosecurity ordered by the government, for which the company received UAH 920,000.
"Our company participated in tenders and wrote works on order. Investigators have no grounds to say that we have no real work or the work is of a poor quality... The pre-trial period is case is ending and the Prosecutor General's Office is beginning to pressure the witnesses," Skorokhod said.
She said the pressure is exerted with the aim of obtaining evidence of Lukash's guilt that is not contained in the case file.
"There is even suspicion of colluded between Lukash and Lavrynovych [ex-Minister of Justice Oleksandr Lavrynovych]," the witness said.