To wound but not to kill...

So former PM Yulia Tymoshenko has been charged with 'misspending state funds' - 'a crime that could put her in prison for a decade'.

According to Unian, which publishes a photocopy of the official charge sheet: "acting knowingly, out of personal interests,[she] individually decided to take the decision to use part of the funds received from the sale of quotas for emissions of greenhouse gases which were to be used a specific purpose [for projects to reduce greenhouse gases only..FN], to cover expenses of the State Budget of Ukraine, particularly pension payment obligations."

U.P. publishes copies of documents indicating that just over one month ago, the full 320 million euros of Kyoto protocol money was to be found in a special 'ring-fenced' UkrExImBank account, complete and intact. So where's the 'personal interest'?

It seems some of the Kyoto money, when it was received, was put into the StateTreasury 'Pensions' cookie jar instead of a cookie jar labelled 'ecology projects'.

According to paragraph 4 /2 of Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers' procedures, the StateTreasury is permitted to move money from one jar to another, "on a returnable basis."

So where's the problem? There must surely be better cases with which to 'nail' Tymoshenko. If Ukrainian pensioners were provided with two options: receive no pensions fo a couple of months but put the Kyoto money into a jar with a green label; or receive pensions and put the Kyoto money in the green label jar at a later date, what would they advise?

Tymoshenko is accused of 'losing' the 0.05% commission for converting the Kyoto euros into hryvnya, i.e. about 1 million hryvnya. But this was done through the state-owned National Bank of Ukraine, so there was no loss incurred by Ukraine itself.

p.s. This all reminds me of an old neigbour of mine who used to take two five pound notes to the post office every other week and deposit them in his account. On the intermediate weeks he would go to the post office and ask if he could take out the money he had deposited the previous week. On receiving the money he would carefully examine the bank note serial numbers and say, "This is not the same money I gave you last week....I demand you give me the money I gave you last week..."

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The second Tymoshenko coalition government was formed on a 50-50 basis by BYuT and NUNS, yet it is only Tymoshenko, and her cabinet and other associates who are being harassed by prosecutors. Yushchenko's boys all seem to be in the clear...President's union at work? Payback for not supporting Tymoshenko in last February's presidential elections second round?

Watch this new video of the premeditated agressive assault by PoR 'heavies' on BYuT parliamentary deputies intended to drive them away from the parliamentary speaker's dais when they were quietly staging an after-hours sit-in. Was it just a fight between parliamentary deputies - or was the intention to wound..to kill?...