MOSCOW, February 10 - RAPSI. Attorney Kenneth McCallion, who represents former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a New York court, said he is ready to submit the statement of defense in the Universal Trading & Investment Co.'s (UTICo) lawsuit against his client.

The relevant documents are available at RAPSI/rapsinews.com.

The U.S.-based UTICo has been trying in vain for several years to recover about $18.3 million from United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU). The latest lawsuit was filed in November. UTICo asked the court to hear the case in the defendant's absence on February 2, since the latter did not duly respond to the lawsuit.

Almost a week after the petition was filed, McCallion told the court that he will send the statement of defense in UTICo's lawsuit.

The Massachusetts-registered UTICo wrote in the motion that "UESU's assets were converted, withheld and fraudulently transferred under Tymoshenko's and her privies' control" to Cyprus, through BVI assets, the Guernsey Island and the Isle of Man.

UTICo adds that the aggregate amount of UESU's fraudulently transferred proceeds placed under Tymoshenko's illegal control constituted $2.27 billion, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office.

According to UTICo, UESU's market advance was facilitated by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, who was convicted in the United States and sentenced to nine years in prison and fined $10 million.

Lazarenko expected to "receive a 50-percent interest in UESU's ultimate illegal profits to be directed by Tymoshenko to his offshore accounts," the plaintiff writes.

The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts awarded UTICo roughly $18.3 million in its dispute with UESU in 2005. However, UTICo has so far failed to have the judgment enforced.

In late 2005, UTICo made several attempts to recover the money after UESU's assets had been unfrozen, but to no avail.

UTICo filed the complaint after the court denied its motion to intervene in Tymoshenko's case against RosUkrEnergo and its co-owner Dmytro Firtash.

Tymoshenko brought a putative class action suit against RosUkrEnergo and Firtash in April, claiming that they conspired with "Gazprom to wrongfully appropriate approximately $1.7 billion worth of natural gas." She alleges that in doing so they violated several federal laws, in particular the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.