Ihor Holovan, an attorney for leader of the European Solidarity party Petro Poroshenko, released an extract from a court ruling on the seizure of the assets of TV channels Pryamiy and Channel 5, as well as a corresponding extract from a prosecutor’s petition.
“Here is a screenshot of the seizure warrant, and below is a screenshot of the prosecutor’s petition, which her honor Bortnytska rewrote in her ruling, along with mistakes and typos. And everything is listed there in the light of day: subsidiary company NBM-Zaporizhia Television and Radio Broadcasting Company and Author TV Television Company LLC. Companies directly involved in broadcasting programs of opposition TV channels,” Holovan said on Facebook.
At the same time, the attorney said, there is no Poroshenko’s share in the capital of these legal entities.
“Petro Poroshenko has long ago and publicly transferred these assets to Free Media LLC, whose founders are a dozen well-known journalists and MPs. That is, prosecutors and the judge deliberately seized media assets that do not belong to Petro Poroshenko,” he said.
Holovan also said that instead of the code of Author TV Television Company LLC, the documents indicate the code of another asset of Free Media LLC – Express-Inform Television and Radio Broadcasting Company LLC.
“However, we do not think that this is due to stupidity and unprofessionalism typical of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the SBI. We are convinced that Belkin, Potapenko, Safaryan and her honor Bortnytska acted deliberately, since the main customer, in our opinion, Zelensky is interested precisely in the destruction of opposition television channels. Anyway, the media assets of Free Media LLC were illegally seized. And I am convinced that the owners of Free Media LLC will not only file an appeal, but also demand an investigation into the actions of Belkin, Potapenko, Safaryan and Bortnytska for corpus delicti, provided for in Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine [obstruction of the legitimate professional activities of journalists],” Holovan said.
The assets of financial companies in January-September 2021 increased by 4.7% compared to the beginning of the year (UAH 182.13 billion), to UAH 190.704 billion, according to a review of the nonbank financial sector on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on Tuesday.
According to the report, the growth of assets in July-September 2021 amounted to 6.2% due to the growth in the volume of all types of financial services provided during the quarter, thanks to it, the volume of assets recovered to the highest level of 2019.
The NBU said that the total volume of services provided by financial companies in the third quarter grew by 21.1%, to UAH 281.077 billion, including services for trading foreign exchange valuables by 18.3%, to UAH 75.695 billion, funds transfer by 10.2%, to UAH 127.336 billion.
The volume of loans issued by financial companies in the third quarter rose by 16.6%, to UAH 33.91 billion, including loans to individuals by 5.8%, to UAH 17.18 billion, and loans to legal entities by 30%, to UAH 16.528 billion.
The number of financial companies in Ukraine in the third quarter grew by 1.3%, to 984, while their total equity capital increased 8.2%, to UAH 29.695 billion.
The assets of insurance companies in January-March 2021 decreased by 1%, to UAH 64.24 billion, according to a review of the non-banking financial sector, published on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on Friday.
According to the review, in January-March 2021, the number of registered insurers decreased to 208, which is 7.5% less than at the end of the first quarter of 2020 and 1% less than at the end of 2020.
The number of signed loan agreements with insurance companies in the first three months of 2021 amounted to 29.25 million, which is 27.8% less than in the first quarter of last year (40.53 million).
The NBU said that gross insurance premiums decreased slightly, mainly due to a seasonal decrease in revenues from insurance in the corporate sector and from life insurance.
At the same time, the volume of premiums in the risk and life insurance segments increased 6% year-over-year.
According to the report, risk insurers showed close to zero profits and margins, which is due to an excessive share of operating expenses – about 70% of net insurance premiums.
The loss ratios that were reduced to the annual target in the first quarter remained almost unchanged and amount to 47% for compulsory and 41% for voluntary types of insurance, the NBU said.
As of April 1, 2021, 44 licensee insurers did not meet the solvency and capital adequacy requirements or the riskiness of assets.
The Swiss Embassy in Ukraine recalled that seven years ago the Swiss Federal Council decided to freeze all assets of ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and his entourage in the country.
“In taking this measure, the Swiss Government wished to avoid any risk of misappropriation of Ukrainian state assets. Since then, Swiss authorities have been closely cooperating with their Ukrainian counterparts in order to complete the process of restitution of these assets to the Ukrainian people following court rulings on their illicit origin,” it said on Twitter.
The Embassy also reminded that the maximum duration of such a freeze is limited to 10 years.
DTEK is interested in purchasing new power grid assets in Ukraine and EU countries, CEO of the company Maksym Timchenko has said.
“I believe that all DTEK’s business, in one way or another, are related to how successfully DTEK Grids will develop […] In our long-term strategy, we are talking about expanding the portfolio of assets, we are ready to further participate in the acquisition of grid companies both in Ukraine and beyond,” he said when presenting DTEK’s new strategy until 2030.
As reported, the operating holding DTEK Grids is engaged in the distribution of electricity in Kyiv city, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kyiv and Odesa regions.
DTEK was established in 2005 to manage the energy assets of the System Capital Management Group (SCM, Donetsk) of Rinat Akhmetov. The functions of strategic management of the enterprises of the group that make up the vertically integrated chain for the extraction and enrichment of coal, production and sale of electricity were delegated the holding.
ASSETS, DTEK, EU, POWER GRID
Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoisky said his assets are worth $7.5-8 billion, $500 million of which is in the U.S.
“This [his wealth] is impossible to assess. When we made a disclosure to PrivatBank, there was a conservative assessment of $7.5-8 billion,” he said in an interview with NV, excerpts from which have been published on the publication’s website.
Kolomoisky said that he has decided not to expand his business in the U.S. over an FBI investigation.
“For the metallurgical part, we already know – minus $200 million. As for those buildings, it’s also not great. The iron alloy plant is our core thing, we’re holding on to that asset,” he said.
“In America, I have $500 million in investment, all told. I received $2 billion in direct payments from Evraz alone, to my private account with PrivatBank. What the hell did I need loans for? I never took loans from Privat,” Kolomoisky said.
On December 18, 2016, Ukraine’s government, at the recommendation of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and former shareholders of PrivatBank, whose biggest shareholders at the time were Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov, decided to nationalize PrivatBank, at the time the largest financial institution in Ukraine. The ex-owners of the bank consider the nationalization, as a result of which they lost all of their shares, to be illegal, while PrivatBank and the state are demanding additional compensation from them for damages. The parties are involved in litigation both in Ukraine and in foreign jurisdictions.
On April 18, 2019, Kyiv’s District Administrative Court declared the nationalization of the bank illegal in a suit initiated by Kolomoisky. The decision is being appealed.
Kolomoisky earlier proposed to settle in exchange for a roughly 25% stake in PrivatBank.
