Yulia Tymoshenko : UK banks in row over fake Accounts of millions

Report’s claims of accounts across the world are ‘lies’, says ex-Ukraine PM

Prominent UK banks are at the centre of a dispute over allegations that numerous foreign accounts were set up in the name of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her family.

A leaked report, seen by The Independent, claims that 85 bank accounts containing millions of pounds were linked to Ms Tymoshenko and relatives.
This global review of Ms Tymoshenko's finances was carried out as part of a wider investigation by Lawrence Graham, the London law firm, which was commissioned last March by the then-Ukrainian Ministry of Revenues and Duties of toppled president Viktor Yanukovich to trace assets allegedly misappropriated by the former prime minister.
The investigation done for Lawrence Graham reviewed 278 bank accounts in 26 countries and claimed that Ms Tymoshenko or her family were either beneficiaries or signatories to accounts which included a number of UK banks although it says these are now closed. The report claimed that 13 bank accounts in countries all over the world remain open.  But the Tymoshenko camp is adamant that she has not been involved in any commercial activity since she became a politician in early 1997.
Her lawyer, Sergey Vlasenko, said of the allegations of foreign accounts: “This is a direct lie and not true… She has had no property, no assets, no accounts in USA, UK and Switzerland.”
He added: ”We are absolutely pure and open to talk to anyone who wants to investigate us“
Mr Vlasenko argues that information given to the investigation ”has been falsified and is part of a big dirty propaganda war“ against the former prime minister who is expected to stand for president in May. ”This [investigation] was sponsored by the Yanukovych regime to discredit Mrs Tymoshenko“, he told The Independent.
The Yanukovich regime hired Lawrence Graham to trace more than $200 million which the former Ukrainian government alleged was  siphoned off by Tymoshenko and another former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, among others.  The funds allegedly disappeared from the mid-1990s onwards at a time when Tymoshenko ran United Energy Systems. UES was awarded the monopoly rights by Lazarenko, then Prime Minister, to import Russian gas into Ukraine.  These allegations were entirely separate to those which much later saw Tymoshenko jailed, and which were widely criticised as politically-motivated.
The allegations in relation to UES and Tymoshenko were however rejected during a criminal investigation in the USA into Lazarenko.  In 2004 Lazarenko was convicted of money laundering, theft and hiding the funds in foreign accounts.  Most of his Appeal was rejected and he was sentenced to eight years in a California prison.
The indictment stated:  “It was further part of the conspiracy that Lazerenko received money from companies owned or controlled by Tymoshenko, including United Energy Systems, in exchange for which Lazarenko exercised his official authority in favour of Tymoshenko's companies”.  The US Prosecutor, Martha Boersch, had claimed that she “had evidence that companies controlled by Tymoshenko took part in the schemes for transferring money to Lazarenko's accounts.  There were bank statements”.  The report commissioned for Lawrence Graham claims that amongst these was an account at a London bank in the name of United Energy Systems which contained £40million. But Tymoshenko was not arrested or charged with any offence and in 2004 the US court dismissed all the allegations in the indictment concerning Lazarenko’s relationship with UES and Tymoshenko, saying there was “insufficient evidence to confirm these schemes.”
The US prosecutors found assets all over the world, notably a NatWest bank account based in London Bridge. The account contained £40 million and was in the name of United Energy Systems with the joint beneficiaries being Lazerenko and Tymoshenko's husband Oleksander.
Tymoshenko's lawyers deny that she has opened a bank account since she became a politician and that the US case exonerated her: “The US case was launched because Kuchma (president of Ukraine at the time) did his best to provide the US prosecutor with all the information, but the court ruled that there was not even small evidence of any corrupt activity by Mrs Tymoshenko.”
Tymoshenko is a polarising but pivotal figure in the current crisis and turmoil in Ukraine.  She is expected to be a contender in the forthcoming presidential election.  But her track record as prime minister in 2005 and between 2007 until 2010 will be under scrutiny, because the demonstrators are demanding a zero tolerance of corruption after the demise of President Yanukovych.  “Tymoshenko belongs to the old generation of Ukrainian politics”, Orysia Lutsevych, a Ukrainian analyst based at Chatham House, told 'The Independent'.  “After the Orange Revolution she did nothing to reform economy and establish rule of law.  Instead, she focused her attention on infighting inside the Orange Coalition in order to prepare her presidential race. Most people on the [Maidan] square were not demanding her release.”
But her supporters hail Tymoshenko as a hero for her role in the Orange revolution of 2004 and regarded her as a political prisoner when she was jailed during Yanukovych's rule over a gas deal with Russia which she arranged while she was prime minister.  Her lawyer Geoffrey Robertson argued last week:  “Tymoshenko was accused of abuse of office, because she made a deal with Putin when he stopped gas supplies to Ukraine in the winter of 2009...Her actions, taken to avoid a humanitarian disaster, cannot rationally be regarded as a crime.  But for making what her enemies called a 'bad deal', she was jailed.”

Read More : http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/exclusive-uk-banks-in-row-over-yulia-tymoshenko-millions-9177693.html

Yulia Tymoshenko: Russia are holding the people of Crimea at gunpoint

Ukrainian opposition politician Yulia Tymoshenko pauses while speaking as her daughter Yevgenia looks on at the European People's Party (EPP) Elections Congress in Dublin

The freed political prisoner who has become one of the symbols of the Ukrainian revolution has said Europe must act to repel Russian aggression.
Yulia Tymoshenko claimed the Russia was holding the people of Crimea at gunpoint.
She is one of the favourites for leadership in her country when presidential elections are held later this year.
And she paid tribute to the bravery of hundreds killed or injured during anti-government demonstrations which led to the toppling of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.
"In recent weeks Ukraine became more than a country, it became a symbol, an idea, the idea of Europe in freedom, the idea of Europe in strength, don't let this be broken," she said.
She claimed European nation building contrasted sharply with Russia's use of the Kalashnikov firearm.
"The Kremlin must understand that Ukraine is a state and not a territory, a sovereign nation that is free to join Europe," she added.
"It is not a vassal...or a colony that can be driven into a cage.
"We are different, we are free and we want something else than (Vladimir) Putin can give us today.
"For the Kremlin to understand a simple truth, we need action, we need a bit of Europe, which has always spoken in one voice."

Source : http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/yulia-tymoshenko-russia-are-holding-the-people-of-crimea-at-gunpoint-30070079.html

‘300: Rise of an Empire’ movie review

Gazing at actor Michael Fassbender’s fine tuxedoed self as he celebrated “12 Years a Slave’s” historic win at the Academy Awards earlier this week, it was hard to believe that seven years had gone by since we first met the dreamy Irish actor, when he played a brave Spartan soldier in the cult pulp classic “300.”
In that film, director Zack Snyder put his bombastic gifts to use in bringing ancient Greece, if not to life, then to some kind of mesmerizingly bizarro, synthetic version thereof. A super-stylized mashup of graphic novel narrative and video-game stagecraft, “300” was a huge hit, launching Fassbender into much finer things (including a longtime collaboration with director Steve McQueen) and star Gerard Butler into a Dante-esque limbo of forgettable rom-coms and middling action flicks.
“300: Rise of an Empire” isn’t a sequel to “300” as much as a parallel-quel, catching up with the Athenian-led Grecian forces at the same time that “300’s” King Leonidas and his Spartans are getting their toned tushies kicked at Thermopylae. While no big stars are likely to emerge from the speechifying and gruesome swordplay of this installment, the film does feature at least one genuinely memorable performance by Eva Green, here playing Persian naval genius Artemisia with such gothic bloodlust that the only things she’s missing are fangs and a coffin to sleep in. In “Rise of an Empire,” Artemisia has been sent by Persian god-king Xerxes (a blinged-out Rodrigo Santoro) to defeat Greece and avenge the death of Xerxes’s father, Darius, at the hands of the soldier Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton). Suffice it to say, things don’t go exactly according to plan.
Based on a still-to-be-published graphic novel by Frank Miller, “Rise of an Empire” has been adapted by Israeli commercial director Noam Murro with alternately crude and canny fealty to Snyder’s hyperventilating original: A series of smashing, crashing seafaring set pieces interrupted by variations on Henry V’s Crispin’s Day speech (or maybe the “Gentlemen, to bed” gag from Steve Coogan’s “The Trip”), this chapter is a dull, monochromatic affair, its dingy gray palette barely enlivened by syrupy blood that spurts, squirts and gushes with metronomic regularity. When the film isn’t sloppily directed, it’s a series of lazy filmmaking tics, including fetishistic slow-motion shots of blood, water and sweat, as well as sundry dismemberments, impalings and decapitations.
It sounds like a blast, doesn’t it? But “Rise of an Empire” is no fun at all — even those famous six-pack abs from “300” seem to be missing a can or two in this desperate attempt to up an already dubious ante. Despite a visibly sincere effort, Stapleton is a non-starter as the brave Athenian trying to unite the city-states of Greece in defending their experiment in democracy. His supporting players are little more than an anonymous tableau of shirtless, grunting dude-itude.
Oddly, for a franchise founded on the bedrock of man flesh and macho posturing, it’s the women of “Rise of an Empire” who make the most impact: Lena Headey, as Spartan Queen Gorgo, makes serious, focused use of her lamentably limited time on screen, and Green rips into her ruthless anti-heroine with throaty gusto, not to mention an endless supply of beautifully draped leather and chain mail. (Who knew Persian barges boasted that much closet space?)
Despite its comic-book sensibilities, “Rise of an Empire” is anything but family-friendly. In addition to its steady stream of gloppy bloodletting, the film includes aggressive sexuality that borders on the perverse, including a ludicrous scene of carnal passion below decks, and a startling moment of intimacy between a key character and a disembodied head. How do you follow a scene like that? “Rise of an Empire” makes an attempt, but it only looks sillier the harder it tries.

Source : http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/300-rise-of-an-empire-movie-review-sequel-is-no-fun-at-all/2014/03/05/ec76dd3e-a46f-11e3-84d4-e59b1709222c_story.html

Yulia Tymoshenko's hopeful daughter Eugenia

Yulia Tymoshenko is in a wheelchair, suffering severe pain from her back and looks frail, but her daughter Eugenia is just thankful she has been freed from jail after nearly three years of torture.In dramatic scenes nine days ago, the braided heroine of Ukraine’s last revolution a decade ago and the country’s former Prime Minister was released after a vote in parliament. She rushed to Kiev’s Independence Square to give a passionate speech to the protesters who won her freedom.
In an exclusive interview with The Independent, her daughter – who stood behind her mother as she addressed the crowd – said the day was “like a surreal dream”.
“I was amazed she went straight there,” she said. “But it was the right decision to say thank you to the people and ask forgiveness for the mistakes of all politicians and the mistakes she made.”
Eugenia said it was the culmination of the most stressful 24 hours of her life. Her mother was held in Kharkiv, a stronghold of deposed President Viktor Yanukovych, and her family feared for her life amid the violence of his overthrow.
“I knew the regime would stop at nothing and think nothing of spilling more blood so until I saw my mother I was very worried.”
Their legal team flew to collect her, while Eugenia prepared Plan B to drive nearly 300 miles by car. “When I saw her at the airport in Kiev I was so relieved – I still can’t believe it is real.”
She said her mother spent an emotional few hours with her own mother, who is 76 and she had not seen since being jailed, before going to the grave of the first protester killed in the square then returning to the political struggle.
Eugenia refused to say if her mother will stand again for office. But she is almost certainly gauging the possibility of a successful tilt at power. Her allies including the interim President Oleksandr Turchynov, were given key posts in Ukraine’s new government. Success hinges on how they grapple with Russia’s invasion of Crimea; Yulia herself rapidly issued a five-point action plan in response to the threat.
“My mother is working full-time to ensure the most just outcome for all Ukrainians, to get financial help for the country and to get new elections,” said Eugenia. “She does not place much importance on her own position.”
Yet the truth is the response to her mother’s return has been mixed; many Ukrainians want new leaders given the scale of corruption and incompetence that has blighted their nation.
Eugenia, 34, sipped lemon tea as we talked in her mother’s office in a Kiev suburb last week. Outside, the walls were hung with photographs of the former Prime Minister greeting crowds and meeting army officers.
The only time Eugenia paused was when I asked if she really wanted her mother back in the front line. She sighed, then said: “I know it is her mission, the fight of her life.”
For all her mother’s fame and wealth, accrued in the gas industry after the collapse of the Soviet Union, she endured a tough time after being jailed on what many believe to have been trumped-up charges of abusing her power in office.
Since being released, the woman who won power after the Orange Revolution has talked by telephone with the US Vice-President Joe Biden and met Baroness Ashton, the EU foreign affairs chief who visited Ukraine last week. Reports claimed she was flying to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin, who is known to respect her – even reputedly calling her “the only man” in Ukrainian politics. Her office denied the stories.
Eugenia, who was educated in England, spent time at the Maidan protests and has close friends who were badly injured in the clashes. One almost had his leg amputated after being shot; others were savagely beaten by security forces.
“For four years beforehand we were wondering ‘Why did people not see what was going on?’ Then it was a relief that people started the protests against the government. It was a long struggle but should not have been done at such a terrible cost.”
Her daughter admits she remains worried about her mother. She is aware also there has been unsympathetic coverage around the world since Yulia’s release. “I know there has been hostile press – it looks well-organised to me. But I am convinced by her real heroism.”
“It is good people can criticise without being killed or kidnapped,” she added. “My mother said she understands the people don’t trust politicians. But we should remember many politicians joined the protests and stood there shoulder to shoulder with them.”
Now, like many in Ukraine, both mother and daughter say they want real change in their country – unsurprisingly, since the new government said last week $37 billion (£22 billion) went missing from state coffers under the deposed regime.
“Whatever politicians do must be controlled and checked by the people,” said Eugenia. “That is what it really means to be European.”

Source : http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-crisis-i-am-convinced-yulia-tymoshenko-is-a-real-heroine-says-eugenia-9163976.html