High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine releases Yulia Tymoshenko on bail amid bribery probe

Ukraine’s former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, was released from police custody in Kyiv on Friday after being officially placed under investigation for bribery by Ukraine’s two powerful anti-corruption agencies on Wednesday.

Tymoshenko was freed after paying bail set by the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine of 33 million hryvnia (€655,000), on the condition that she did not leave the Kyiv region, RBC-Ukraine reported.

The Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) had requested that bail for Tymoshenko be set at 50 million hryvnia (€1 million), an amount her legal team said she would be unable to pay, due to the freezing of her bank accounts. 

On Wednesday, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) published wiretap recordings in which Ukraine’s two-time prime minister can be heard whispering as she instructs a fellow parliamentary deputy to introduce a motion to the Verkhovna Rada but then not vote for it. 

NABO also released incriminating footage from the search of her office in which one of its agents can be seen opening bags containing bundles of cash on her desk. Should Tymoshenko be found guilty of bribery, she could face up to 10 years in prison.

Denying all allegations against her on Wednesday, Tymoshenko called the search of her office “a huge PR stunt,” and insisted that her personal savings were “all fully accounted for” in her official declaration of assets. 

Tymoshenko has repeatedly criticised the work of NABU and SAPO, Ukraine’s two powerful, independent anti-corruption bodies, which most of her party members voted to strip of their power last year. Despite signing legislation placing the agencies under presidential supervision, Zelensky subsequently backtracked after widespread protests against the move broke out, and restored the agencies’ powers.