KIEV: Corruption investigators in Ukraine are looking into allegations that late Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi gave a multi-million euro donation to the presidential campaign of Yulia Tymoshenko in 2010, Ukrainian MP Volodymyr Ariev said.

Tymoshenko denies the claims, but reports of past illicit campaign financing could damage the Ukrainian opposition leader, who is currently beating President Petro Poroshenko in opinion polls ahead of next year’s presidential vote.

Ariev, who is a member of Poroshenko’s ruling BPP faction, said he and other MPs had formally asked the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) look into the allegations published by pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat in February.

According to Asharq al-Awsat, a Qadhafi representative flew by private jet to Kiev to deliver a briefcase with 4 million euros ($4.9 million) in cash to help finance Tymoshenko’s ultimately unsuccessful 2010 presidential bid.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2018