Lawyer formerly involved in Ablyazov's case appointed to Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs

Amnestied Ukrainian lawyer Yelena Tishchenko, previously accused of helping fugitive Kazakh tycoon Mukhtar Ablyazov to legalize $3.3 billion allegedly stolen from BTA bank, has been appointed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Tengrinews reports. The announcement was published on Facebook by the country’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

Avakov wrote that the Ministry created a unit for return of criminally obtained assets. "Yelena Tischenko has been appointed as the head of the unit. A bright, outstanding personality is proportional to the tasks ahead of her. There are only a few such professionals. This person will be effective and will help us return the assets that have been illegally repatriated from Ukraine. (...) This expert worked on a certain level. And, accordingly, she was confronted by very influential people with great powers – she held the blow and was effective," he said.

Avakov informed that Yelena Tishchenko obtained her Master’s degree in International Business Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science, specializing in international financial crimes. She had 18 years of experience in the field, of which more than 8 were abroad.

Avakov wrote that in 2013, “participating in an international process, which featured Russian opposition, as a defense lawyer, she became a subject of attacks of Russian intelligence services. Spent 4 months in the same cell of detention facility where Nadezhda Savchenko was held.”

In his statement the Ukrainian Minister referred to Tischenko’s arrest in August 31, 2013, after her arrival from Nicosia (Cyprus) in Moscow, where she was detained by Russian special forces. The 37-year-old mother of four, according to the investigators, was a close confidant to the former head of Kazakhstani BTA Bank Mukhtar Ablyazov, and was directly involved in laundering and legalising the stolen funds.

Two criminal cases were initiated against her under the articles of the Russian Criminal Code: Article 159 "Swindling on a large scale" and 174.1 "Legalisation (Laundering) of Amounts of Money or Other Property Acquired by a Person as the Result of an Offence Committed by Him/Her."

However, in his Facebook post, Avakov claimed that Tischenko “was subject to an international black PR campaign, by which her pursuers tried to justify their actions.”

The lawyer was amnestied on 3 January 2014.

In 2014, Tishchenko was a representative of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine responsible for cooperation with law enforcement agencies, and was a delegate from Ukraine to GRECO (the Group of States against Corruption). She was also the author of regulations on creation of the Interdepartmental Commission for Return of Assets, Avakov said.

By Dinara Urazova