The Ukrainian court has given permission to question former President Pyotr Poroshenko using a polygraph (lie detector test) at the State Bureau of Investigations.

Axar.az reports citing TASS.

"There was a court ruling. There is a sanction for Pyotr Poroshenko to take a lie detector test, but, importantly, it can happen only upon his consent," the newspaper quoted a bureau representative as saying.

Yesterday, the ex-president was questioned over a suspected tax evasion scheme when carrying out the purchase and sale of the Pryamoi TV channel. After the questioning, Director of the State Bureau of Investigations Roman Truba announced that the next questioning could be staged with the use of a polygraph. In response, Poroshenko claimed that he did not trust the State Bureau of Investigations and was willing to take a test live and broadcast by the Pryamoi TV channel.

The bureau has launched 11 cases against Poroshenko. The charges pressed include high treason, abuse of power, money laundering, tax default, an attempt to usurp judicial power, and "illegal appointment of Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers in 2016 in the absence of a coalition in the Verkhovna Rada." One of the cases concerns Kiev’s factory Kuznitsa na Rybalskom, which was one of Poroshenko's largest assets and which, according to the media, the former president fictitiously sold to Ukrainian businessman Sergei Tigipko. The case of the factory’s sale was opened on suspicion of tax fraud and further laundering of illegally gained income.