The eponymous party of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Monday denied accusations of vaccine procurement fraud involving more than $50 million from 2008 through 2009.
The case was brought to the Portland Federal Court, in the U.S. state of Oregon by three foreign law companies on behalf of the Ukrainian state company "Ukrvaktsyna," responsible for purchasing medicines for the country's health ministry.
U.S. company Olden Group, owned by offshore companies registered in Belize and the South Pacific island of Niue, is accused of illegally increasing the price for Ukraine-bound drugs and laundering the proceeds in U.S. and Latvian banks.
"We state that all these accusations are groundless. The Yulia Tymoshenko government did not purchase a single flu vaccine vial. All flu vaccines were bought under the previous government led by [incumbent President Viktor] Yanukovych," the Yulia Tymoshenko Block said in a statement.
The statement says the case was organized by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who "paid budget money to foreign specialists in black PR."
The case is the first legal action to result from an extensive anti-corruption probe ordered by the country's government in May 2010. The investigation is being conducted by the U.S. law firm of Trout Cacheris, PLLC, along with international investigative firm Kroll, Inc. and the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP.
KIEV, September 20 (RIA Novosti)
