KIEV, Dec. 8 - Ukraine’s former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, now the leader of the country’s largest opposition party, will ask the International Monetary Fund to scrutinize the transfer of a massive amount of natural gas from Naftogaz to RosUkrEnergo.

Tymoshenko said she will write a letter to each of the IMF’s 24 board directors before they get together later this month to decide on whether to release a $1.5 billion loan to Ukraine.

“The release of the next loan should come only under one condition,” Tymoshenko said at a press conference. “The IMF must send a special team to monitor this shadowy transaction.”