The Madrid High Court rejected Airbnb’s request to suspend payment of a €64 million fine imposed by the Spanish Ministry of Consumer Affairs and ordered the company to pay the fine while the case is pending. This was reported by Spanish media, and the move is part of a broader campaign by Spanish authorities to tighten control over the short-term rental market.
According to a report by El País, the fine was imposed in December 2025 and is equivalent to approximately six times the amount of “illegally obtained profits” that, according to Spanish authorities, Airbnb received as a result of its controversial advertising practices. The court ruling, published on March 23, specifically concerns the denial of a stay of proceedings, meaning it does not resolve the dispute on its merits but prevents the company from postponing payment until a final verdict.
Spanish authorities justified the sanction based on three main violations. These include the publication of listings for tourist accommodations without the required license number, the use of false or incorrect registration data, and misleading information regarding the legal status of landlords. All of this was classified in Madrid as forms of unfair or misleading advertising.
Airbnb, in turn, stated that the court’s decision is procedural in nature and does not address the substance of the dispute, and that the company itself considers the fine to be contrary to Spanish and European law. The company has already appealed the sanction and is continuing its legal defense.
The case is unfolding against the backdrop of a general tightening of Spain’s policies regarding short-term rentals. According to Reuters, in the summer of 2025, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs announced that it had secured the removal of 65,000 Airbnb listings deemed to be in violation of the rules, and subsequently identified nearly 55,000 more listings lacking the required license numbers. Authorities link this campaign to efforts to ease the pressure of tourist rentals on the housing market and curb rising rent rates for local residents.
Spain as a whole has been tightening restrictions on short-term rentals over the past two years. In particular, in March 2025, one of the country’s highest courts upheld Barcelona’s plan to completely phase out short-term rental licensing by 2028. This underscores that Airbnb’s conflict with regulators is part of a broader shift in Spanish housing policy toward restricting short-term rentals in overheated tourist areas.
For the real estate market and the tourism sector, this means an increase in regulatory risks for short-term rental platforms in Spain.
For the platforms themselves, the key issue is no longer just the scale of the business, but also the ability to quickly adapt to new requirements regarding licensing, transparency of listings, and disclosure of information about property owners.
The Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has dismissed the charges against Yuriy Bolokhovets, CEO of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine,” according to a statement by lawyer Volodymyr Volodymyrov on Facebook.
According to a statement by the Advanq Law Firm (ADVANQ), which provided legal representation, the court’s decision is final and cannot be appealed. According to the lawyer, the court found the charges against the head of the state-owned enterprise to be unfounded.
“Even before the case was transferred to NABU, the investigation had done a tremendous amount of work, gathering a large amount of material, but was unable to find evidence of land seizure, receipt and legalization of illegal funds, or abuse of official authority. Four of the five charges were not confirmed at the investigation stage, and in court we managed to prove the groundlessness of the last one,” Volodymyr said.
He emphasized that the reason for the persecution of Bolokhovets was the forest reform, as a result of which “the old system was destroyed, and billions in revenues from the sale of state timber began to be paid into the budget.”
The lawyer recalled that last year Bolokhovets was held in custody for two months with an “unrealistic bail amount” imposed, and his family, colleagues, and defenders were also subjected to pressure and information attacks. At the same time, he expressed his respect for the anti-corruption authorities for their objective analysis of the materials despite external pressure.
The press service of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” emphasized that the pressure on the CEO was due to his position on the introduction of transparent market mechanisms for the sale of timber and the de-shadowing of the forestry industry.
As reported, Yuriy Bolokhovets was notified of the suspicion in July 2025. During the investigation, he was held in custody with the possibility of bail.
State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” is one of the largest forest users in Europe and is under the management of the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine. The enterprise manages 6.6 million hectares of state forest fund land.
The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) will ask the High Anti-Corruption Court to impose a preventive measure in the form of bail in the amount of 50 million hryvnia for the head of the Batkivshchyna parliamentary faction Yulia Tymoshenko, who is suspected of attempting to bribe a number of MPs, the SAP told Interfax-Ukraine.
“The hearing on the imposition of a preventive measure will take place on Friday. The prosecutor’s office will ask the court for bail in the amount of UAH 50 million,” the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office said on Thursday.
The VAKS press service confirmed that the hearing will take place on Friday at 9:00 a.m.
“In response to numerous requests from media representatives, we would like to inform you that the consideration of the motion to apply a preventive measure to the People’s Deputy, the head of the parliamentary faction in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is scheduled for January 16, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. at the VAKS premises at 41 Beresteisky Avenue,” the Telegram channel said.
The Volyn District Administrative Court upheld the claim of the Osokorki Ecopark public organization and decided to revoke the construction permit issued to Kontaktbudservis LLC and Budevolutsia LLC for the construction of a residential complex. The developer Stolitsa Group announced its intention to appeal the decision.
“On April 25, 2025, the Volyn District Administrative Court revoked the construction permit issued to Kontaktbudservis LLC for the territory of the Osokorky Ecopark. We have once again proven that construction on the territory of the ecopark is illegal. The court’s decision revoked the construction permit for the H2O residential complex,” the Osokorky Ecopark public organization said on Facebook on Tuesday.
According to the published court decision, the court concluded that the defendant did not provide the results of an environmental impact assessment to obtain a construction permit in a protected landscape area, did not coordinate the construction project with the State Service for National Cultural Heritage and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, and did not coordinate the construction plans with the current General Plan of the city.
Thus, the court’s decision revoked the permit of the State Architectural and Construction Inspection of Ukraine (GASI) No. IU113181171313 dated April 27, 2018, for the comprehensive development of microdistricts 1, 2, and 2a of the Osokorki-Tsentralni residential area in the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv.
In turn, the project developer Stolitsa Group announced its intention to appeal this decision in the near future. In its opinion, the court assessed the case as insignificant and did not take into account previous decisions of the Supreme Court regarding urban planning conditions and the detailed plan of the territory in this case.
“The company considers the decision of the Volyn District Administrative Court of First Instance to be a gross violation of procedural and substantive law, and it has not entered into legal force and will be appealed in the near future,” the company said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
The developer emphasized that work on the construction site is being carried out in accordance with the approved schedules and commitments made to buyers. In addition, the company continues to fulfill its obligations under the signed memorandum on the completion of the bankrupt Arkada facilities, the statement said.
As reported, in November 2018, the Kyiv District Administrative Court dismissed the claim of the Osokorki Ecopark public organization to revoke the State Architectural and Construction Inspection’s permit for the construction of the Patriotika na Ozerakh residential complex in the Osokorki-Tsentralny residential area in the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv, issued to Kontaktbudservis LLC and Budevolutsia LLC. This decision was overturned on appeal in 2019, and later in 2020, the Supreme Court overturned both decisions and sent the case back for reconsideration.
In 2019, Kyiv City Council deputies supported the decision to create the Tyaglo Lake Landscape Reserve to preserve valuable natural complexes of flora and fauna in the Dnipro floodplain on the left bank of the capital.
Later in 2021, a memorandum was signed on the completion of the bankrupt Arkady’s projects by Stolitsa Group LLC: the Eureka, Patriotika, and Patriotika na Ozerakh residential complexes.
On January 20, 2025, Stolitsa Group opened sales in the N2O residential complex in the capital’s Osokorki district between the Tyaglo and Nebrezh lakes (the former Patriotyka na Ozerakh project from Arkada). The chief architect of the project was Alexei Kutsalo from KUB Arkhteks.
Sources: https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/126877273, https://www.facebook. com/ecoparkosokorky/posts/pfbid02HQ1SYBsTGKpcNfUFTqxpupRE2geJcpc7KDGbk29UxxGb688zAikndaggEAwWy5gol, https://t.me/stolitsa_group/2564
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.
