KIEV, May 14 (RAPSI, Alyona Meita) - Ukraine will continue investigating former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's involvement in the murder of businessman and MP Yevhen Shcherban, even without the legal aid of the United States and the Czech Republic, First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin told Kommersant-Ukraine on Tuesday.

The media reported on Monday that the Prosecutor General's Office had closed the pretrial investigation on April 26 because the investigators had not received the documents that they requested from these two countries. The documents may refer to the questioning records of Tymoshenko's husband Alexander and former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, who is another suspect in the Shcherban case.

A few hours later, it became known that the investigation was resumed to perform the "investigative actions planned."

A source at the Prosecutor General's Office has indicated that - even if they never receive the requested documents - Tymoshenko's case will not be closed, according to the newspaper.

The case will be "investigated thoroughly and completely," Kuzmin said.

Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General's Office's press service said the pretrial investigation will be suspended once again after the planned investigative actions until these foreign countries respond to Ukraines requests.

The questioning of a witness has been scheduled for Wednesday.

Shcherban, the chief of the Aton financial corporation and a deputy of the Supreme Rada, was shot dead at the Donetsk International Airport in November 1996. His wife and an airport employee were also killed.

The Prosecutor General's Office claims that the murder was ordered by former prime ministers Tymoshenko and Lazarenko. According to the investigators, Shcherban stood in the way of making United Energy Systems of Ukraine, which Tymoshenko headed at the time, the Donetsk Region's monopoly gas distributor.

The investigators claim that Tymoshenko and Lazarenko paid $2.8 million for Shcherban's murder. If Tymoshenko is found guilty as charged, she could be sentenced to life in prison.