Tymoshenko denies knowledge of kickbacks paid to health ministry officials, threatens crackdown

«I will take care of the matter myself. I am not going to entrust the investigation to those ministers whose officials were involved in medical procurements», Tymoshenko stressed.

The investigation group will be made of representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office, State Tax Administration, Main Auditing Department, lawmakers of all factions and journalists who raked up the scandal, the premier said.

The decision to investigate the allegations was taken after Tymoshenko learned about the results of an investigation by a group of journalists who accused health ministry officials of buying medicines and medical equipment needed to fight the swine flue in Ukraine at overstated prices.

As specified by Tymoshenko, the government bought the anti-flue medicines twice, first at the start of the epidemic and later on after her and Foreign Minister Poroshenko’s talks with Western manufacturers. The second time the same medicines were bought at prices four times lower than the first time.

«I will set up the commission today. I do not envy any guilty official, regardless of the time he worked for the ministry, either in this cabinet or its predecessor. I will initiate criminal charges if bribe-taking and purchasing at overstated prices is established. Such officials will be fully accountable under the law», she assured.

The premier added that Health Minister Vasyl Knyazevych is so far off the hook as there is no evidence he was implicated in corruption. «We will compare the prices at which medical supplies were bought by the former cabinet of Yanukovych in 2007 and by my cabinet in 2008 and 2009 with the prices of manufacturers. The government must buy supplies directly from manufacturers, not from go-between companies, as the journalist investigation claims, Yulia Tymoshenko stressed.