The High Anti-Corruption Court in Kiev imposed a bail of 33,280,000 hryvnias and procedural obligations on Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the "Batkivshchyna" faction in the Verkhovna Rada, who is suspected of bribing deputies in exchange for votes, RBC-Ukraine reports.
33 million hryvnias is over $760,000. The Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Combating Corruption requested a bail of 50 million hryvnias. Tymoshenko herself asked the judge not to impose a preventive measure or to limit it to a personal guarantee, according to "Ukrainska Pravda".
Tymoshenko will not wear an electronic bracelet; she is only required to hand over her passport, Babel notes.
Anti-corruption authorities said they were investigating a scheme for the systematic provision of illegal benefits in exchange for "loyal behavior" when voting. According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), these were not one-off deals, but a long-term mechanism with advance payments and instructions on how to vote, including abstention or non-participation. The involvement of about 20 deputies from different factions is being investigated.
On Wednesday morning, Tymoshenko announced that searches had been carried out overnight at the office of "Batkivshchyna" in Kiev. She said that heavily armed officers had acted without presenting documents, had not found any evidence and had seized official phones, parliamentary materials and personal funds that had been officially declared. Tymoshenko called the actions "a grandiose PR stunt" and part of an election campaign.
Tymoshenko denies the charges, calls the recordings manipulated and claims that the investigation is a "political order". In parliament, she said that NABU was exerting political pressure and linked the case to her public criticism of anti-corruption agencies.
The charge - offering an illegal benefit to officials - carries a sentence of five to ten years in prison.