Ukrainian prosecutors on Wednesday said they would probe the alleged misuse of funds received by Kiev for the sale of carbon trading quotas under the government of former premier Yulia Tymoshenko.
The investigation covers allegations of abuse of power and the violation of budgetary legislation, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Decisions taken by "former government officials and the ministry of finance" led to the misuse of more than 2.3 billion hryvnias (290 million dollars, 221 million euros) in funds from the national budget in 2009, the statement said.
It did not mention any names or say if the funds had disappeared.
No officials had yet been specifically targeted, said Yuri Botchenko, the spokesman for the prosecutor's office. "The inquiry has not yet begun and the people involved in this business will be looked for later," he told AFP.
Tymoshenko was prime minister from December 2007 to March 2010. She is currently in opposition after losing presidential elections in February to Viktor Yanukovych.
Last week Yanukovych said that funds received by Ukraine for the sale of quotas for unused carbon dioxide emissions had been "stolen" by the previous administration.
"We have not found this money and do not know where it has disappeared to," he said.
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