MOSCOW, May 31 - RAPSI. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has sent her response to the motion filed against her filed by the U.S.-based Universal Trading & Investment Co. (UTICo) with a New York Court, according to a copy of the document made available to the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com).

UTICo has been trying in vain for several years to recover about $18.3 million from United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU), which was previously headed by Tymoshenko.

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.

Later, Tymoshenko's defense attorney Kenneth McCallion told the court that she will respond to UTICo's claim. The response has finally been submitted this week.

In her response, Tymoshenko maintains that the claim is unfounded and out of the New York court's jurisdiction. She also cited other documents showing the motion should be dismissed.

The Massachusetts-registered UTICo wrote in the motion that "UESU's assets were converted, withheld and fraudulently transferred under Tymoshenko's and her privities' 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 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 wrote.

The U.S. 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 lawsuit 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.