United Energy Systems of Ukraine

In 1991, Tymoshenko, her husband, Oleksandr, and Olexandr Gravetsas created the Ukrainian Petrol Company, a vendor of gasoline to farmers in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

However, UESU was largely held by a Turkish company, United Energy International Limited (UEIL) and the perhaps inflated payments of Ukraine gas customers was filtered through a number of international locations (allowing a distribution of profits – hundreds of millions of dollars – amongst the energy oligarchs involved), before Russia was paid.

[3] In 1997, UESU formed a consortium that was responsible for supplies of natural gas to Ukraine from Russia.

He allocated gasoline quotas to private companies, giving priority to Itera and UESU.

[citation needed] In August 2000, Ukrainian police arrested Olexandr Tymoshenko and Valery Falkovych (first deputy general director).

[citation needed] In early 2012, Oleksandr Tymoshenko received political asylum in the Czech Republic.

In July 2011, the Ukrainian security service opened a criminal investigation into the embezzlement of $405 million by UESU in 1997.