Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv partially cancelled the arrest of accounts of Poltava Mining and Processing Plant PJSC (PGOK) of the mining company Ferrexpo plc with assets in Ukraine to pay salaries to employees, provide assistance to internally displaced persons and mobilized workers, ensure the production process.
According to the company’s press release, the court made the respective decision on February 16 this year.
At the same time, the court partially satisfied the company’s claims. In particular, PGOK is allowed to pay salaries and related charges (alimony, sick pay, benefits for families of employees killed during the defense of Ukraine, etc.) for full-time employees, payment for rent of municipal and state property, goods and services of state and municipal enterprises, institutions and utilities.
In addition, it is allowed to make payments related to the payment of local taxes and fees, as well as payments for the purchase of food, groceries, rent of premises for accommodation of internally displaced persons.
The company’s press release welcomes the court’s decision, but states that the court rejected the possibility of payments for goods and services received from contractors. PGOK believes that the extension of the ban on making these payments jeopardizes the work of such companies, because for most of them, PGOK is the main customer.
In addition, the services and goods provided by these contractors are critical to ensure stable production activities of the company. And a possible reduction in production volumes or its shutdown would entail non-compliance of the state with taxes and employees with stable salaries.
PGOK also insists on the removal of the seizure of financial operations aimed at social support of Ukraine. According to the company, in 2022 PGOK allocated more than 500 million UAH to help 8 regions that suffered the most from the Russian aggression as part of the program of humanitarian support for Ukraine. The company considers it extremely important today to continue all planned social and humanitarian programs as part of the PGOK Charitable Foundation.
PGOK points to the importance of the full unblocking of accounts to ensure the full operation of the enterprise and is taking all necessary measures to this end.
As reported, by the decision of Shevchenkivskiy district court of Kyiv on February 3, 2023 all accounts of Poltava Mining and Processing Enterprise PJSC and expenditures, except for the payment of taxes to the state budget, were seized. This decision made it impossible to pay salaries and an annual bonus, which the company planned to make on February 7, 2023.
Later, the court adjusted the ruling, allowing the payment of wages, explaining the restrictions on its payment by a clerical error. However, the adjusted determination did not allow payments to accounts at other banks where the wage bill was opened, so it was difficult to comply. Despite this, as of February 16, 2023, salaries for January 2023 and the annual bonus for all full-time employees of PGOK had been paid in full, the company noted.
It was also reported that a court in Ukraine arrested the accounts of PGOK Ferrexpo at the request of the prosecutor’s office in the case of underpayment of rent for iron ore mining in 2018-2021. The company denies the fraud.
Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Bureau of economic security (BEB) reported the suspicion of the chief accountant of PGOK Ferrexpo, the majority owner of which is a businessman and former MP Konstantin Zhevago.
“The SBU together with the BEB and the Office of the Prosecutor General reported the suspicion of one of the top managers of PGOK, which is part of the Ferrexpo group of companies and is owned by a Ukrainian fugitive oligarch,” the SBU said in a message on Telegram channel.
“BEB detectives reported the suspicion of the chief accountant of PGOK. The company is part of the Ferrexpo group of companies, which is owned by a billionaire from the Monaco battalion,” in turn stated the BEB.
According to law enforcement officials, due to the actions of the top manager, the company avoided paying to the state budget rent payments for the use of subsoil deposits of iron ores in the amount of about 2 billion UAH.
“The investigation found that the official during 2018-2021 entered false information in the official documents of the enterprise. This and caused significant losses to the state”, – was specified in the message.
Criminal proceedings were opened under part 3 of article 212 (evasion of taxes, fees) and part 1 of article 366 (official forgery) of the Criminal code of Ukraine.
The SSU and the BEB note that the conclusions of the comprehensive expertise conducted during the pre-trial investigation confirmed the amount of the damage to the state budget of 2 billion hryvnias.
Law enforcers continue to identify all the persons who might be involved in the crime.
Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine.
Ferrexpo owns 100% of the shares in Yeristovskiy GOK LLC and 99.9% in Belanovskiy GOK LLC. Before the court ruling in September 2022, Ferrexpo also owned 100% of Poltava Mining and Processing Division PJSC.
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.
Suspension from work due to lack of vaccination against COVID-19 and verification of vaccination certificates in public places will be appealed in the Kyiv District Administrative Court.
According to the press service of the court, the court has registered f lawsuits against the State Space Agency of Ukraine to appeal against orders to dismiss from work. In particular, the plaintiffs ask the court to declare unlawful and cancel the orders by which they were suspended from work, and resume them at work.
In addition, the court opened proceedings on the case seeking to appeal against certain provisions of Resolution No. 1236 dated December 9, 20 on the establishment of quarantine and the introduction of restrictive anti-epidemic measures in order to prevent the spread of acute respiratory disease COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in Ukraine.
In particular, the plaintiff, among other things, asks the court to cancel paragraph 18 of the said resolution regarding the granting of the right to employees of the National Police, the National Guard, officials authorized by local authorities to conduct random check of documents, as well as documents confirming vaccination against COVID-19 on the streets, in parks, other public places (catering establishments, entertainment establishments, transport).
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine instructed the heads of state bodies, heads of enterprises, institutions and organizations to ensure the removal of unvaccinated employees from work from November 8 until they are vaccinated.
President of the Council of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) Gianni Buquicchio called on the Verkhovna Rada to adopt laws that will allow the participation of international experts in the selection of judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on a competitive basis.
“In Ukraine, we have a serious problem of public trust in State institutions. Even when they do honest and good work, people do not trust them because so many corrupt practices have been revealed in the past. People do not know who they can believe,” Buquicchio has said at the Ukraine 30. Development of Justice forum on Wednesday.
“When this is not possible from the inside, trust has to be built with outside help, with the support of the international community who are ready to nominate international experts with high moral quality; experts who can ensure that candidates are properly vetted before they are appointed,” he has said.
International experts shall be working side by side with Ukrainians to ensure that your courts and judicial bodies are composed of people who live up to high moral and ethical standards, Buquicchio has said.
“Concepts and strategic orientation are on the table. Now, they should be implemented. I do hope that the Ukrainian Parliament will manage to unblock the discussions to adopt laws that enable these mixed bodies to work together for the benefit of the Ukrainian people. It is time to act and adopt the laws that will make a difference and to implement them. The Council of Europe and its Venice Commission are here to help and support you,” the Venice Commission President has said.
He has said that a key element of the December urgent opinion was the recommendation to establish a new system of competitive selection of judges, involving a screening body with international participation.
Buquicchio has said that an effective fight against corruption and respect for judicial independence and the Rule of Law have to go hand-in-hand. “There can be no effective fight against corruption without an independent judiciary and respect for the Rule of Law. Equally, there can be no independent judiciary and respect for the Rule of Law when corruption is pervasive. As long as corruption remains widespread the Ukrainians cannot enjoy the rule of law. Nor will you achieve public trust in institutions or confidence on the part of investors. Your country cannot prosper under those circumstances,” he has said.
The Venice Commission President has said that creating specialized institutions or adopting new laws will not in itself improve the ability to prevent and combat corruption. But effective, well-funded, and well-staffed anti-corruption institutions and courts that are left to do their work without undue interference will make a difference.
On Wednesday, the business court of Kyiv will hear a court case under a claim of TIU Canada, owned by Refraction Asset Management (Calgary, Canada), against Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant (NFP) due to the disconnection of its 10.5 MW solar power plant from the power grid in March 2020 year.
“Today’s hearing is the first date for the trial since the completion of the preliminary hearing last month,” TIU Canada said in a report, which is available to Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the report, the solar power plant with a capacity of 10.5 MW was disconnected by the NFP from the power grid on March 2, 2020 “despite the fact that only electricity producers have the right to initiate the disconnection of the plant from the power grid in accordance with Ukrainian law.”
TIU Canada aims to immediately restore the connection to the electric grid and plans to bring NFP and its shareholders to full responsibility in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine, the company said.
The company said that NFP took advantage of the fact that the solar power plant was connected to a substation located on its territory, and explained the need for shutdown by carrying out repair work.
According to TIU Canada, the illegal shutdown caused over EUR 1.5 million in losses to the company, which “continue growing every day.”
At the same time, the company refers in the report to the high assessment of its activities by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky at Ukraine Reform Conference in Toronto in July 2019, who noted the priority of developing green energy and thanked the company for its work in this area.
“Now this case is becoming a test of President Zelensky’s readiness to protect foreign investors in Ukraine,” TIU Canada said.
German investors believe that the main problem in Ukraine is not corruption, but the work of the judicial branch of power, German Ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen has said.
“What German investors really need is the same rules for everyone. What always scares our investors is bad examples when even large German companies in Ukraine are under pressure from law enforcement agencies, like the State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). The reason for this is not clear to us. Companies just want to work quietly in Ukraine, to give jobs and make a profit. This is closely related to the judicial reform. Our investors tell me that corruption is no longer such a big problem,” the ambassador said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to her, in order to attract German small and medium-sized businesses to Ukraine, they need to be given good examples that they can invest in Ukraine and be calm.
“When I used to work in Ukraine, there was always the issue of VAT refund, now it is not. Now the problem is the possibility that competitors go to court for completely incomprehensible reasons, and for large German companies it is still possible, because they have lawyers, money and time. Very often they win lawsuits, but it lasts a long time. The German economy is a medium and small business, and in order to attract them to Ukraine, they need to give them good examples that they can invest in Ukraine and be calm,” Feldhusen said.
At the same time, the ambassador said that a German pharmaceutical company recently bought the Biopharma plant in Bila Tserkva, Kyiv region. “This is a good example, because it did not happen in Kyiv, not in Kharkiv, not in Dnipro. This is a small city and it will be good for people,” she said.
“Another example is the Kostal company, which produces automotive electronics. They are already working in Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky, and now they are opening a plant near Boryspil (both cities are located in Kyiv region). In this case, the question was about connecting the plant to the infrastructure. It is not at all clear why it was so difficult. They solved it with the help of the Ukrainian government. There will be a new plant and many new jobs,” the ambassador said.
Feldhusen said that German business has a desire to invest in Ukraine, only more good examples are lacking.
