According to the materials of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the property of former people’s deputy, subsanctioned businessman Vadym Novinsky worth more than 3.5 billion UAH has been arrested, the special service said.
“According to the materials of the Security Service arrested the property of pro-Russian oligarch Vadim Novinsky, involved in the complicity of the aggressor country,” the SBU said in a message in the Telegram channel on Thursday.
According to its data, the list of blocked assets includes corporate rights to 40 Ukrainian enterprises and 30 gas wells, where industrial volumes of “blue fuel” are produced. The total amount of property seized is more than 3.5 billion hryvnias.
Reportedly, in order to avoid sanctions of the National Security and Defence Council, Novinsky tried to re-register his own industrial facilities to several affiliated commercial structures. To implement the deal, he engaged controlled private notaries and state registrars.
Currently, based on the materials provided by the SBU, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine has cancelled the illegal actions of the registrars for a number of the oligarch’s companies.
As part of criminal proceedings under Article 111-2 (aiding and abetting the aggressor state) the SBU officers searched the offices of the companies and the places of work and residence of those involved. During the searches, documents, seals of non-resident companies and pro-Kremlin religious literature were found.
An investigation is under way to establish all the circumstances of the crime and bring the perpetrators to justice, the SBU said.
Investigative actions are conducted under the procedural guidance of the Office of the Prosecutor General in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
As reported, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky’s decree of December 1, 2022 put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council “On certain aspects of the activities of religious organizations in Ukraine and the application of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions)”, which sanctions were also applied to Novinsky.
The sanctions package includes 12 types of imposed restrictions, in particular, a complete blocking of assets, a ban on trade transactions, deprivation of all state awards and insignia, a ban on the withdrawal of capital outside of Ukraine, etc.
