When asked whether it would be possible to complete the investigation, for example, within a five-month period, Klimenko replied: “I think it will take less time. This case is quite elementary. We have sent to the court a large number of similar episodes of giving or receiving bribes, that is, both detectives and prosecutors have experience in such cases, and there will be no delays on our part.”
According to the head of SAPO, everything will depend on how quickly the planned examinations can be carried out.
“For a specific category of cases under investigation by NABU, it is necessary to create an independent expert institution. We have recorded a large number of cases when outsiders interfered in the process of conducting examinations. There were cases of delay, sabotage, leaking of information and pressure on experts,” Klymenko noted.
He also predicted how long Tymoshenko's case might take to be heard in court.
“A similar case against a people's deputy [от “Слуги народа” Андрея] Odarchenko was heard in the first instance for a year, and three months later we went through the second instance and already had a decision from the HACC Appeals Chamber,” Klimenko pointed out. “It all depends on the behavior of the defense and how often the court schedules court hearings.”
If everything goes “without delays,” then the consideration of the case “can take place much faster,” because this “is not a complex category of cases,” the head of the SAPO summarized.
Context
On January 14, NABU conducted searches at the office of the Batkivshchyna party in Kyiv. The Bureau reported suspicions to the head of the Verkhovna Rada faction of bribing people's deputies. The media wrote that we were talking about Tymoshenko.
According to the investigation, the defendant “initiated negotiations with individual deputies on the introduction of a systemic mechanism for providing unlawful benefits in exchange for loyal behavior during voting.” Suspicion was reported under Part 4 of Art. 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (offering unlawful benefits to an official holding a particularly responsible position). The sanction of the article provides for punishment of up to 10 years in prison.
Tymoshenko denies the accusations against her. On January 16, HACS chose a preventive measure for Tymoshenko in the form of bail in the amount of UAH 33.28 million. On January 23, the full amount of the deposit was paid.
On January 26, the HACC Appeals Chamber rejected Tymoshenko’s complaint regarding the preventive measure she had chosen in the form of bail, but the politician was allowed to communicate with people’s deputies and move freely throughout the territory of Ukraine.
As the SAPO noted, a criminal case against Tymoshenko was registered on November 27, 2025, long before the searches in the Batkivshchyna office.
