A former Ukrainian Prime Minister convicted in the US of corruption in his homeland has been released from federal prison and turned over to immigration authorities.

Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, serving a seven-year jail sentence on abuse-of-office charges, yesterday dismissed new allegations against her of involvement in the murder of a parliament deputy almost 16 years ago.

Former Ukrainian prime miister Pavlo Lazarenko was jailed for nine years and fined £5.3m (€7.8m) for money laundering, wire fraud and extortion.

Ukraine’s interior minister gave the new government’s sharpest warning yet to former President Leonid Kuchma today, saying he has reason to worry as the investigation into a journalist’s death nearly five years ago proceeds at a breakneck pace.

A jury in San Francisco tonight found former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko guilty of money laundering and extortion charges.