You're reading: Akhmetov reportedly faces US visa delay

Rinat Akhmetov's U.S. visa application is being processed, his lawyer says.

There are some things money can’t buy. For Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest and one of its most powerful citizens, one of them may be a visa to the United States.

Despite owning more than $1 billion in assets in the U.S. and having a fortune estimated at $16 billion by Forbes magazine and higher by others, he has not been able to get a visa for several years, two sources with knowledge of the matter told the Kyiv Post.

A former adviser to President Viktor Yanukovych, who has been close to Akhmetov for years, said the steel magnate’s visa application has been neither approved nor denied.

Akhmetov couldn’t be reached to talk about his troubles getting a visa, a circumstance that would put him in the same company as many Ukrainians of more ordinary means.

Akhmetov passed on written questions about his visa delays to his U.S. lawyer, who insisted that American authorities have no trouble with either Akhmetov or his companies. Lawyer Mark J. MacDougall said the visa was still being processed.

A source in the Ukrainian government said Akhmetov remains in limbo even after buying United Coal, the sixth-largest coking coal company in the U.S., for up to $1.4 billion in April 2009.

Both sources refused to be named out of fear of damaging their relationship with the formidable man who is well-stocked with lawyers and PR experts.

According to the former presidential adviser, the delay with Akhmetov’s application has dragged on for “many years” because of “one of the agencies in the U.S. government.”

A U.S. Embassy spokesman, James Wolfe, declined to comment on Akhmetov’s application, citing privacy laws. He said delays in processing visa applications are common, but added that inconclusiveness lasting several years “would not be normal.”

“Most cases are decided on the same day or a couple of days,” Wolfe said. When asked about the typical procedure for issuing visas, he said that “there is a name check – and not just in U.S. State Department databases,” but with law enforcement agencies as well.

Kyiv Post’s sources suggested that the reason for the delay of Akhmetov’s application is rooted in his past. “I don’t know how far back they’re digging, but they must be going pretty far back,” said the former presidential adviser.

The early years of Akhmetov’s business career remain mysterious. He rose to prominence in Donetsk in the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The era was widely described as “gangster capitalism,” in which assets and great wealth were up for grabs and violent struggles over the ex-Soviet spoils were common.

Akhmetov, 45, has gaps in his biography. He was born in Donetsk in 1966, but his official biography on the Party of Regions website contains no information about his activities until 1996, when he became president of Shakhtar football club.

He succeeded Akhat Bragin, the previous club president, who was blown up in a bomb attack at the soccer stadium. Akhmetov’s Foundation for Development of Ukraine says he started the Donetsk City Bank in 1995.

Akhmetov lawyer MacDougall confirmed in a Nov. 14 written response to the Kyiv Post that Akhmetov’s visa application “is currently undergoing administrative processing” by the U.S. Department of State.

“Such processing is the next operational step following recommendation of the consular staff of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv that Mr. Akhmetov’s visa application be approved,” wrote MacDougall, a partner with the Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld law firm in Washington, D.C. By the time this edition of the Kyiv Post went to press, MacDougall had not yet responded to phone calls and email this week asking for an update on the situation.

But Akhmetov apparently has influential people lobbying on his behalf and it is believed that he will eventually get a a visa to America.
“Diplomats here have been for engagement, and have advocated on behalf of his visa,” the ex-presidential adviser said.

“If someone invests millions of dollars, it makes sense to let him visit his investment – they might make more investment.”

MacDougall wrote that the purchase of United Coal Company “was subjected to rigorous examination under the procedures mandated by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).”

“As an agency of the United States Government, CFIUS must approve purchase of U.S. businesses by a foreign person to ensure that such transactions do not implicate national security.

The prompt approval by CFIUS of the acquisition of United Coal Company by Metinvest – of which Mr. Akhmetov is the principal shareholder – clearly demonstrates that no U.S. national security issues were raised with regard to Metinvest or Mr. Akhmetov,” MacDougall added.

At the same time, MacDougall indicated that Akhmetov may want to visit his company. “Mr. Akhmetov looks forward to working with the management and employees of United Coal Company to further enhance the company’s business in the United States,” the lawyer’s statement said.
Akhmetov’s visa troubles have so far been out of the public eye. But other rich and powerful were not so lucky.Parliamentarian Yuriy Ivaniuschenko was unable to get a U.S. visa for some time.

He is believed to be a close ally of Yanukovych. He hired Sidley Austin, an American law firm, to deal with his visa issues, and in May he traveled to America, his Ukrainian lawyer said.

In neighboring Russia, where oligarchs come across similar problems, these cases become a matter of public debate. Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, whose fortune is estimated at $16.8 billion by Forbes magazine, spent five years and $1 million on consultation and other legal fees to get a U.S. visa.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin talked about his case in 2008, calling on the Americans to present proof of Deripaska’s unlawful activities.

Deripaska’s ordeal ended in October, when he finally received a visa to visit an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hawaii in November as a member of the Russian delegation.

If high-powered legal assistance is a plus, Akhmetov is in good shape. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld is an international law firm with more than $736 million in revenue last year, according to Texas Lawyer.

MacDougall specializes in reputational recovery and “represents clients in combating the serious obstacles that arise when individuals and organizations are the targets of false public accusations by the media, government officials or commercial competitors,” the company’s website says.

Kyiv Post editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at [email protected].