The head of the election campaign of the Batkivschyna United Opposition and the ex-head of Kharkiv Regional State Administration, Arsen Avakov, who is currently in Italy, has said that he plans to file a number of lawsuits at European courts against the actions of Kharkiv officials involved in the liquidation of Basis Bank.
In an interview with the Delo newspaper published on Friday, while commenting on a statement by Kharkiv Regional Council that it will send to the Italian side documents confirming the involvement of Basis bankers in economic crimes, he said: “I will help them. I will file a number of lawsuits against their actions. I will sue officials for violations of the law in the destruction of Basis Bank… There will be European, rather than puppet Ukrainian judges.”
When asked whether the statement by Kharkiv Regional Council could influence the decision of the Italian side on his extradition to Ukraine, Avakov said: “A court in Italy will not take such a decision.”
He also said that he currently had nothing to do with Basis Bank.
“I created this bank about 20 years ago. And, of course, it hurts me what Regions Party politicians are doing with it… I have already left the list of the stockholders of Basis Bank, and now I have no relation to it. I’m just an individual with respect to the bank,” he said, adding that “all businessmen that are associated with me are coming under pressure.”
When asked about the prospect of the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for October 28, he noted that “the electoral situation is interesting.”
“We hope to get 25-28% of the vote in the region, including in the regional center. Although the percentage is always slightly lower in the region, it is a little higher in Kharkiv… I would call this percentage satisfactory to us,” he said.
As for the struggle in single-member districts, Avakov said: “Perhaps, we will gain victory at more than two or three districts as we earlier planned. Perhaps, these will be four or five districts.”
Avakov also criticized a statement by Kharkiv Regional Governor Mykhailo Dobkin that the Regions Party will be able to collect 55% of the vote.
“As far as Dobkin’s fantasy is concerned, perhaps, he means the plans of fraud, because the actual rating of the Regions Party will unlikely exceed 25-30% according to the optimistic scenario,” he said.
