10 million paid from taxpayer’s pocket to help government in Tymoshenko case

The Justice Ministry on 11 March signed an agreement with the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates for services in the case of Tymoshenko v. Ukraine.   According to the explanation in the Public Procurement Herald, 10.2 million UAH has been allocated from public funding “in connection with the fact that the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Tymoshenko v. Ukraine on 31 May 2012 and 11 July 2012 posed additional questions.”

The procurement is described as follows: “services on scientific research and experimental elaboration in the sphere of social sciences”.

The Justice Ministry also informs that “Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates have already provided the government with services in this case in accordance with an agreement from 10 April 2012.   Therefore this time procurement was applied on a non-competitive basis from one bidder”.

Nashi Hroshi [Our Money] points out that the Public Procurement Herald makes no mention of this previous contract.

Please see Justice Ministry Travesty for details about how the Justice Ministry’s claims about the last „study” by the said law firm differ significantly and in the government’s favour from the actual report.  The report’s independence was questioned by most observers both within Ukraine and beyond.

Serhiy Vlasenko stated at the time that the law firm’s report was published that he had submitted an MP’s information request and had been told that the law firm’s services had cost 92 thousand UAH. A tender had not been held, he was told, because the amount was less than the threshold where tenders were needed.

Vlasenko stated that the official information about the cost of the services had been understated. According to the report, around 10 members of the firm had worked on the report, with one partner’s fees coming to a minimum of 750 USD and assistants – 400 USD.