The Ukrainian opposition was funding TVi channel after the then CEO of the channel, Mykola Kniazhytsky, agreed to run for the parliament on the list of the opposition, Kniazhytsky said.
“It was actually Arseniy Yatseniuk and Mykola Martynenko who approached me with a proposal to participate in the elections. When I agreed, they were contacted by [the channel’s owner, businessman Konstantin] Kagalovsky. And he suggested that should I run for the parliament on the opposition’s list, the opposition could fund the channel. They agreed, and transferred money to Kagalovsky,” MP Kniazhytsky said in an interview with the Forbes Ukraine magazine.
At the same time, he declined to name specific amounts.
Kniazhytsky also said that after the conflict in the channel started he had a telephone conversation with Yatseniuk, who asked him to be as objective as possible.
As reported, on April 25, Altman said he is the final beneficiary of the British company Balmore Invest Limited (London), which owns a 95% stake in Media Info LLC, which in turn holds a 100% stake in TeleRadioSvit television and radio broadcasting company – the TVi Channel.
He said Balmore Invest Limited bought a 1% stake in the channel from Media Info Director Oleh Radchenko and acquired a 94% stake via assignation by proxy issued by the director of Wilcox Ventures LTD controlled by Kagalovsky.
According to the Single State Register, as of April 19, 2013, Balmore Invest Limited (London) owned a 95% stake in Media Info, which, in turn, holds a 100% stake in TeleRadioSvit television and radio broadcasting company – the TVi Channel.
According to the state register, Wilcox Ventures Ltd. (British Virgin Islands) controlled by Kagalovsky, owns a 5% stake in Media Info, while earlier it owned a 99% stake in the company, and Media Info Director Oleh Radchenko owned a 1% stake.
At the same time, the statutory fund of Media Info remained at UAH 1,000.
Altman said that such a rapid change in the channel’s owners was connected with the intention to sell the channel to Ukrainian government agencies.
“I was aware that the channel was being prepared for sale. You can guess to whom. Certain steps were made… This happened so quickly, we did everything urgently, as we knew that the channel was being prepared for sale to government agencies,” the businessman said.
According to Altman, the channel made “very negative reports about [former Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Valeriy] Khoroshkovsky” under pressure from Kagalovsky, and, at the same time, Kagalovsky did not allow them to be broadcast. “You realize that it is a negotiation tactic… He [Kagalovsky] says that the channel is [being sold] for nothing, while I think that EUR 305,000 is a very high price,” Altman said.
In turn, Kagalovsky said on April 25 that his Wilcox Ventures Ltd. is the owner of Media Info LLC, which holds a 100% stake in TeleRadioSvit television and radio broadcasting company (the TVi television channel).
“Wilcox Company is the owner of 99% of the structure, so I’m the owner,” he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.
Kagalovsky said that Wilcox Ventures Ltd. has not issued any power of attorney on the transmission of a share in Media Info LLC to Balmore Invest Limited, which earlier was claimed by the beneficiary of the latter, U.S. businessman Oleksandr Altman.
“There was no power of attorney, and my hypothesis is that it was fabricated,” Kagalovsky said.
