Bohoslovska blames Tymoshenko for wrongful instructions to sign gas accords with Russia in 2009
Kyiv, April 11 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukrainian lawmaker Inna Bohoslovska, who chairs a provisional parliamentary investigative commission probing the signing of gas agreements with Russia, said ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko issued a wrongful instructions to sign gas contracts between the Naftogaz Ukrainy national gas company and Russia's Gazprom in 2009.
"The instructions were in fact unacceptable for Ukraine. Therefore almost all Cabinet members refused to vote for them. By law, the prime minister had no right to sign a document which gave the go-ahead to the conclusion of gas agreements," Bohoslovska said at a press conference at Interfax in Kyiv on Monday.
The Ukrainian lawmaker cited a transcript of the Cabinet meeting and the directives Tymoshenko signed on January 19 2009, and told the commission to find out why Tymoshenko signed them and put the basic price for gas at $450 per 1,000 cubic meters.
"The issuance of wrongful Cabinet directives is making us look into the reasons for that. The prime minister cannot sign such instructions for no reason. She cannot falsify documents just for the sake of it. We must find out why this happened," she said.
Bohoslovska also said that a link must be established between the signing of gas agreements, disadvantageous for Ukraine, and Timoshenko's tenure as head of the Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine industrial-financial corporation.
The then President Viktor Yuschenko told the National Security Council and Prosecutor General's Office back in February 2009 to find out whether Ukrainian officials' talks with Russia on natural gas transit and the agreements signed complied with the Ukrainian law.
The two agencies were instructed to investigate whether the talks had been prepared in compliance with the established procedure, and the directives were issued lawfully and observed.
The National Security Committee said in a statement that Tymoshenko's issuance of instructions to the negotiators and some terms of the contracts signed carried serious risks for Ukraine.
The Security Council described the basic price for gas ($450 per 1,000 cubic meters) in the formula, sealed in the contract between Naftogaz Ukrainy and Gazprom for 2009-19, as economically unfounded and one of the highest in Europe.