The Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has interviewed 562 witnesses as part of pretrial investigation into 13 criminal cases featuring the fifth Ukrainian president and current member of parliament Petro Poroshenko. Investigators ordered 35 forensic studies, including 27 in the criminal probe concerning the actions of sailors crossing the Strait of Kerch, the SBI press service said in a statement.
Shares in and material assets belonging to the Kuznia on Rybalsky (Kuznya na Rybalskomu, formerly known as Leninska Kuznia) plant were frozen, as were the money of Priamyi television channel owner Volodymyr Makeyenko on bank accounts, totally, 31 million euros.
Investigators also sent 20 requests for international penal assistance, including 14 in the criminal probe into Poroshenko illegally crossing the Ukrainian border on a forged passport.
The SBI has published a full list of criminal cases featuring Poroshenko on suspicions as follows:
– The voyage of Ukrainian naval ships across the Strait of Kerch, which resulted in an escalation of the conflict with Russia and the introduction of martial law in Ukraine with the a view to possible usurping power;
– Takeover of state power including forging of official documents when submitting the candidacy of Ukrainian prime minister in the absence of a coalition in the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada;
– The alleged loss of material carriers of classified information containing state secret (the situation room in the Presidential Administration building);
– An illegal transfer across the Ukrainian state border by means of using a forged passport (Maldives); an illegal detention of Mikheil Saakashvili and his illegal deportation to Poland;
– Organizing and exercising an illegal sending of Mykola Chaus across Ukrainian border to Moldova;
– The invalidation of the decision of the president of the Pervomaisk District State Administration in the Mykolaiv region with regard to adding a land parcel located in the territory of the Leninsk rural council to the state reserve land;
– Tax evasion and further legalization (laundering) of criminal proceeds from the sale of Kuznia na Rybalskomu;
– Tax evasion and further legalization (laundering) of criminal proceeds from the sale of LLC TELEVISION CHANNEL PRIAMYI;
– An unlawful acquisition of assets belonging to the Ukrainian Association of the Blind’s recreation compound Ivashka by Soyuz Invest LLC employees;
– Unlawful influence on the contest during the selection of candidates for members of the Supreme Council of Justice in March-May 2019, holding the contest within a short period of time and issuing possibly unlawful orders to change the contest procedure;
– Abuse of office and interferences with the work of judges in Ukrainian courts by way of untimely appointing them as such, which had serious implications such as inappropriate payment of their wages from the Ukrainian state budget;
– Meddling in the work of the judges of the Kyiv District Administrative Court on the part of the Ukrainian president, members of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council with regard to the decision on rescinding the nationalization of PrivatBank.
“All the information is published in accordance with Article 222 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine,” the SBI said.
Ukraine in January-October 2019 increased electricity exports by 1.5% (by 77.1 million kWh) compared to the same period in 2018, to 5.127 billion kWh, the Ministry of Energy and Environment Protection has told the agency. Electricity supplies from the “energy island of Burshtyn TPP” to Hungary, Slovakia and Romania increased by 10.9% (by 339.2 million kWh), to 3.442 billion kWh.
Electricity supplies to Poland decreased by 2.5% (by 29.3 million kWh), to 1.132 billion kWh.
Electricity supplies to Moldova amounted to 552.7 million kWh, which is 29.6% less (232.8 million kWh) than in January-October 2018.
Ukrainian electricity was not exported to Belarus and Russia for January-October 2018 and 2019.
At the same time, Ukraine in July 2019 resumed commercial import of electricity, the total volume of which since the beginning of this year amounted to 1.538 million kWh. In particular, 573.9 million kWh were supplied from Slovakia, 644.9 million kWh from Belarus, and 191.5 million kWh from Hungary.
In addition, within technologically exchanged energy flows linked to synchronous operation of Ukrainian power grid with the power systems of neighbor countries 29.8 million kWh of electricity was imported from Russia and 0.8 million from Belarus.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) together with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) will finance a program of support for bioenergy development worth over $50 million, Lesya Kuzmenko, the EBRD Deputy Head in Ukraine, has said.
“The program is aimed at technologies and systems for collection, storage and processing of agrobiomass. We plan to mobilize about $50 million for its implementation,” she said at the official opening of the program “Sustainable Bioenergy Value Chain Innovation” in Ukraine.
The leading engineer of the EBRD in Ukraine, Tetiana Markuta, clarified that the total amount of the four-year program is $55.8 million, and it is planned to launch it from the fourth quarter of 2019. According to her, the Global Environment Facility provides grant support under the program.
Most of these funds – $50 million – will be issued for lending to bioenergy projects in the private sector, and another $3.5 million for incentive grants, she said. The remaining funds are to be used for information support and educational projects in the field of bioenergy.
“We will look at options for possible stimulation of the development of bioenergy within the framework of the program and choose two or three areas that will be most beneficial for Ukraine,” she added.
She noted that the support is designed for companies in the field of agriculture and logistics, companies that can work with waste, as well as those that produce and process biomass.
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of November 21
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has implemented some measures to digitalize red tape procedures and circulation of documents, according to a posting on the website of the government. “Online, it will also be possible to recover lost or stolen driver’s licenses using the online procedure. Soon they can be ordered through the driver’s electronic account or through the unified public administrative services portal. The new rules so far relate to the licenses issued after January 1, 2013,” the government said.
In particular, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a bill that will simplify the receipt of free legal assistance for low-income citizens. It would be possible to apply without a certificate of income. Getting this help takes a lot of time and will require a lot of effort from people. The bill will soon be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine introduced the compensation of postal costs in court cases for low-income citizens by its decision.
“It allows lawyers to reimburse postal expenses in cases where they provide free legal assistance to low-income and socially unprotected groups of the population. In particular, the state will reimburse the cost of sending registered letters in appeal proceedings that were previously paid by citizens themselves. This will improve the quality of assistance to people who cannot pay for it,” the government said.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 21/11/19
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
