Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash, a co-founder of the Swiss-registered RosUkrEnergo (RUE) gas trader, has learned about the lawsuit against him lodged with the Southern District Court of New York by ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko, from the media and has not received any official notification about the proceedings, the businessman's press service said.
"But for scanty information about the alleged lawsuit in the media, Mr. Firtash has not received any official notification about the existence of this lawsuit, and no writ was handed to him," the press service said in a statement.
As reported, the U.S. District Court in New York has sent a summons to Firtash urging him to respond to the allegations stated in a lawsuit filed against him by Tymoshenko. According to a copy of the summons obtained by the agency, it is dated April 26. In line with the document, Firtash should provide an answer to the complaint within 21 days of the serving of the summons to the plaintiff – Tymoshenko and her representative McCallion & Associates LLP, as well as to court.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs in this lawsuit are Tymoshenko and other former executives of Ukraine, who wished to remain anonymous because of the pressure from the authorities and the likelihood of intimidation and persecution of them. The defendants in the lawsuit are Firtash, the gas trader RosUkrEnergo, and other unnamed or as yet unknown individuals and companies that helped the defendants.
Tymoshenko said that Naftogaz, by agreement with Russian gas company Gazprom, lawfully received 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which earlier belonged to RosUkrEnergo. According to her, after the victory of Viktor Yanukovych in the presidential elections in early 2010, the position of Naftogaz reversed its position in the arbitration proceedings initiated by RosUkrEnergo in Stockholm court.
At the same time, the ex-premier noted that associates of Firtash were appointed to positions in the government, in particular Yuriy Boiko was appointed minister of energy and the coal industry, Serhiy Liovochkin headed the presidential administration and Valeriy Khoroshkovsky became chief of the Security Service of Ukraine.
Tymoshenko argues that the change of power and the cancelation of the constitutional reform of 2004 led to the curtailing of the independence of Ukrainian courts, which as a result confirmed the ruling of the Stockholm Arbitration Tribunal demanding Naftogaz Ukrainy return 12.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas worth $3.5 billion to RosUkrEnergo.
The plaintiff, among other things, pointed to the institution of criminal proceedings against the relatives of the head of the Supreme Court of Ukraine Vasyl Onopenko.
The ex-premier also argues that Firtash used the funds obtained to purchase at least three nitrogen fertilizer producing companies in Ukraine, thus building a future monopoly, which creates good grounds for buying farmland, and spent $600 million to gain the option of purchasing Inter media holding from Khoroshkovsky.
The complaint is dated April 26, and Yulia Tymoshenko signed it on April 12.
