KIEV, Ukraine, May 13 (UPI) -- Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was handed notice from the government stating she is under investigation for abusing funds, officials said.
The prosecutor general's office in Kiev said the former prime minister, now an opposition leader, was given notification that criminal proceedings against her for allegedly bribing a judge were reopened, the National News Agency of Ukraine reports.
The case against Tymoshenko was opened in 2004 but was closed without formal investigations.
"This criminal action was brought in May 2004 and was closed early in January 2005 without a complete fulfillment of all the necessary investigations, as it is provided by Article 22 of the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine," the prosecutor general's office sources explained.
Tymoshenko lost a brutal presidential election against pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych in a February runoff. Opposition leaders in Kiev accuse Yanukovych of moving too close to former patrons in the Kremlin, with a punch up erupting in the Supreme Council, Ukraine's parliament, over an April deal to extend the lease for the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.
Tymoshenko came to power during the Orange Revolution in 2004 that left Yanukovych defeated in his first presidential bid.
The former prime minster is to speak with investigators Monday.
