Ukrainian businessman and former owner of PrivatBank Igor Kolomoyskyy is interested in taking away from the mining company Ferrexpo 40% of its main asset – Poltava Mining and Processing Plant (PGOK) in the case initiated by his business partners – Russians Aleksandr Babakov, Evgeny Giner and Mikhail Voyevodin, said Konstantin Zhevago, owner of 49.5% of Ferrexpo.
“These are Russian owners from whom we acquired this stake in 2002. These are Babakov, Giner, Voyevodin. 100% includes Kolomoisky, because he is their partner in Dneprospetsstal and other assets in Ukraine,” Zhevago said in an interview with Forbes Ukraine, answering a question about the customers of the case.
He added that the directors of the British companies that tried to take away the 40% stake in PGOK are directors of many Cypriot companies of both Kolomoysky, Babakov, Voyevodin and Giner.
“It doesn’t happen that in Cyprus, where there are millions of companies, for some reason the same lawyers were executives both in these companies suing me and in the companies that own part of Ukrnafta or other companies related to which Mr. Kolomoysky is involved,” the businessman said.
According to Zhevago, he considers the initiation of this case as a fraud The material states that in 2002 he agreed with the Russians to buy out this stake for $40 million.
“They received a fair price for the shares sold in 2002. Both parties were satisfied with the agreement,” the Ukrainian businessman said, claiming that they then invested $3.2 billion in three mining and processing plants, of which the Poltava Mining had about $1.8 billion.
“I understand that there is a huge temptation to get 40% of the $1.8 billion. At first it was about compensation. They came every two years. I refused to communicate, but they tried to find me through various corrupt politicians, partners or somewhere in London, New York. And all the time this was on the agenda”, – stated Zhevago.
Commenting on the allegations of his alleged involvement in the bribe to the head of the Supreme Court for a decision in this case, the businessman denied them again and stated his willingness to provide investigators with any information on the case.
“I have not received any appeal. I do not understand my status in this case. I am preparing documents to apply for an explanation of my status. I want to cooperate and prove that neither I, nor our lawyers, nor Ferrexpo had or will have anything to do with any illegal actions in this case or any other cases,” he stressed.
Zhevago admitted that it is his voice that sounds on the tapes of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, as he has personally communicated with all five legal companies involved in this case for the last at least a year, including Goretsky & Partners, which has worked for Poltava and Yeristovskiy GOK since 2019.
Speaking about the possibility of reviewing the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of Ferrexpo in the case concerning the 40% stake in PGOK, the businessman said that in order to do that it should be proved that most of the judges received bribes.
Zhevago also did not rule out “that the state, through the President’s Office, could scout the possibility of at least nationalizing this stake, if the Russians get it.
In general, the businessman said that Ferrexpo does not need to be saved from the “encroachment of the Ukrainian authorities,” as Ferrexpo – a public company, which is listed on the main platform of the London Stock Exchange and has among its shareholders such investors as BlackRock and JP Morgan Asset Management.
“The shareholders, who together with me have invested $3.2 billion in the company, have the right to defend themselves,” said the owner of 49.5% of Ferrexpo.
He specified that the accusations of non-payment of 10 billion hryvnias of rent by Ferrexpo “have smoothly transformed” into 2 billion hryvnias, called them lies and expressed confidence that this case will not stand up in a single court.
According to him, the company today works as much as it can logistically take its products to markets and as much as it can have electricity for production.
“Logistics with closed ports does not allow to work more than 30-40% – consumption in Europe is limited, and delivering it to any foreign port is very expensive and makes the products uncompetitive,” – explained Zhevago.
