A group of wealthy men who increased their fortunes under the rule of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych through murky deals and state auctions could be at risk in the new political order.
In a last-ditch effort to save them and himself, Yanukovych in a video message that aired on UBR on Feb. 21 said: “I am trying to protect those people who are being chased by the bandits… I am trying to protect people who are close to me.”
EuroMaidan activists are calling on the nation’s new leaders to investigate financial dealings among the nation’s wealthy elite and prosecute anyone might have violated the law, including oligarchs.
“Yanukovych’s oligarchs had a chance to save themselves a month ago, before the bloodshed. Now it is too late. Father and son Yanukovyches (Viktor and Oleksandr), (Serhiy) Kurchenko, (Rinat) Akhmetov, (Vadim) Novinsky, (Yuriy) Ivanyushchenko, (Vasyl) Khmelnitsky, (Dmytro) Firtash, (Serhiy) Lyovochkin, (Andriy) Klyuyev, (Viktor) Pshonka are to be stripped of assets that were taken out of state or quasi-state property since February 2010, during Yanukovych’s rule,” wrote Sergiy Leshchenko, Ukrainska Pravda’s deputy chief editor, in an opinion blog.
Some on the EuroMaidan street are in favor.
“It is necessary to take away the business of Viktor Yanukovych’s son, Oleksandr, immediately,” protester Mykola Bykovsky, 50, said in interview with the Kyiv Post on Independence Square. Another protester, Pavlo Bilous, 48, nodded in agreement when he heard Bykovsky’s opinion.
But the change in government might also slow momentum in the West, particularly within the European Union and United States, to investigate financial assets held in their countries by Ukraine’s richest citizens.
Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest billionaire and owner of conglomerate System Capital Management, might have reason to be nervous if any of his assets, now worth $18.3 billion by Korrespondent magazine’s estimates, are found by the new government to have been acquired in a non-transparent manner or through single-bid auctions held by the State Property Fund.
Before Yanukovych fled Kyiv and got impeached by parliament on Feb. 22, Akhmetov slightly distanced himself from his longtime ally. In a statement posted to the company website on Feb. 18, Akhmetov appealed to authorities to prevent violence, but still did not drop his support for Yanukovych.
Novinsky, a member of the once-pro Yanukovych Party of Regions faction in parliament and owner of Smart Holding (energy and metallurgy sectors), is another ally of the former president with a lot to lose potentially. Yanukovych granted him Ukrainian citizenship in 2012, while Korrespondent estiamted Novinsky’s fortune to be at $2.8 billion.
Another who has skin in the game is Kurchenko, who owns VETEK, which unites his financial, energy and media businesses. Forbes Ukraine estimated the wealth of Kurchenko, who is believed to be close to Yanukovych’s inner circle, at $2.4 billion. Several journalistic investigations have raised the prospects that he serves as chief executive officer for MAKO Holding, the business owned by Oleksandr Yanukovych, the former president’s older son. According to Forbes Ukraine, Oleksandr Yanukovych’s assets may be $187 million.
Dmytro Firtash, whose Group DF controls major assets in chemical, energy, finance and media sectors, is also exposed by the nation’s political reversal. He has business ties with Serhiy Lyovochkin, the former chief of staff in Yanukovych’s administration. Critics say he has acquired assets in questionable privatization auctions, while his chief critic, ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, is now free and could well go on the verbal offensive against him once again. Korrespondent estimated Firtash’s assets value at $2.3 billion.
On Jan. 30, the Group DF owner made an official statement regarding the ongoing protests and called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
There are also the Klyuyev brothers – Andriy, the former head of Yanukovych’s administration, and Serhiy, a deputy chairman of Party of Regions faction in Verkhovna Rada – who also may suffer from losing their patron. They own $216 million in assets, according to Forbes Ukraine. Their firm Slav AG was registered in Austria in 1994. It reportedly owns more than 70 companies in Ukraine. Its most significant asset is Activ Solar, a solar power station developer in Ukraine.
Ukrainian media reported on Feb. 19 that Klyuyev assets in Austria have been frozen due to participation of its owners in violent actions against protesters in Kyiv. However, when Serhiy Klyuyev was asked by the Kyiv Post about the issue on the very same day, he denied it.
Some oligarchs not so closely tied to Yanukovych, such as Gennadiy Bogolyubov, Igor Kolomoysky and Victor Pinchuk could be at risk if a new government finds that their assets were acquired through unclear privatization procedures and unfulfilled investment requirements.
Kyiv Post associate business editor Ivan Verstyuk can be reached at [email protected].
