Ex-Health Minister Bohatyriova put on wanted list – Prosecutor General's Office

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office has placed on the wanted list former Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Raisa Bohatyriova who is a suspect in criminal proceedings on the large-scale embezzlement of state budget funds.

"On October 21, 2014, she was declared wanted under a resolution of the Prosecutor General's Office investigator, and on October 23, the court granted permission to detain this person and bring her to court to consider an application on taking her into custody," the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office reported on Friday.

According to the report, the Prosecutor General's Office is conducting a pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings on the large-scale embezzlement of state budget funds by Health Ministry officials (under Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - appropriation, embezzlement of property or taking possession of it through abuse of office).

"It was established that the former Ukrainian deputy prime minister and health minister, acting intentionally, by prior agreement with a group of people, in her own interests and in the interests of third parties, using her authority contrary to the interests of the service, seized over UAH 6 million in budget funds," reads the report.

On October 20, the ex-minister was declared a suspect in the crime committed, and on October 21, she was placed on the wanted list.

On the same day, the court ordered the seizure of property of the former minister and her husband, in particular, three apartments in Kyiv, apartments in Yalta and three houses in the village of Pidhirtsi in Obukhiv district, Kyiv region.

Measures are currently being taken to bring to justice the other persons involved in this crime.

The press service of the Prosecutor General's Office has not named the ex-minister.

Bohatyriova first headed the Ukrainian Health Ministry in January 1999 for one year, and then again from December 2012, combining the leadership of the ministry in the government of Mykola Azarov with the post of deputy prime minister until February 2014. She was the only woman who headed the Ukrainian Health Ministry in its history.

In 1990-1994 and 2000-2007, she worked as a Ukrainian MP. For many years she was a member of the Party of Regions and a member of the party faction in the Verkhovna Rada, but in 2008 she was expelled from the party.

In December 2007, President Viktor Yuschenko signed a decree appointing her as secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. She had held this post until February 2012.