Ukraine challenges oligarchs’ grip on energy companies

Ukraine’s judicial authorities moved to curb the influence of the super-rich on Tuesday by challenging tenders that gave leading businessmen control over key power companies under ousted president Viktor Yanukovich.
The legal actions targeted the 2012 and 2013 sell-offs of electricity-generating companies in eastern Ukraine to holdings of multi-billionaire Rinat Akhmetov and a close associate, and of a power distributor in the west of the country.
State assets in Dniproenergo and Donbasenergo and a main power distributor in the Zakarpatya region were sold off for low prices in tenders limited to a few favored participants, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
«These privatizations … were drawn up in such a way as to artificially create the conditions for acquisition of the state assets by specific individuals, which significantly narrowed down the circle of potential purchasers,» it said.
The move against Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, and other oligarchs close to the disgraced Yanukovich appeared to be part of concerted moves by the pro-Western leadership to end cronyism and break the influence of the super-wealthy on political life.
In a statement on Tuesday, Akhmetov’s DTEK holding company said it saw no reason to review the privatization of Dniproenergo, which it said had been carried out legally.
It said it any such action by the prosecutor’s office would be a violation of the fundamental rights of private ownership and rebound on government privatization plans later this year.
President Petro Poroshenko began the drive to curb oligarch power by sacking tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky as Dnipropetrovsk region governor last month after a bid to put a legal brake on his commercial interests in the oil industry.
Запись Ukraine challenges oligarchs’ grip on energy companies впервые появилась Новостной интернет-портал.

Продолжение здесь: IPnews

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