The European Commission has not provided the law firm representing the interests of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his son Oleksandr Yanukovych with the information about their funds and assets in the EU countries, as it is confidential, Deputy of Ukraine’s chief prosecutor Yevhen Yenin said in his comment to Interfax-Ukraine.
“The fact is that in most EU countries this information with limited access cannot be provided to unauthorized persons who are not related to criminal proceedings, therefore the European Commission formulated its response in such a way,” Yenin said when asked to comment on the law company’s statement claiming that the EC didn’t confirm that the funds and assets owned by Oleksandr Yanukovych are in the EU.
“Most of the countries have not provided it [information on the availability of the assets],” he said.
As Interfax-Ukraine reported earlier, lawyers from London-based Joseph Hage Aaronson LLP (JHA LLP) said that the EC and EU member states had not discovered any financial assets or economic resources belonging to Viktor Yanukovych which were frozen as a result of EU sanctions.
“Under Article 8 of Council Regulation (EU) No 208/2014, which imposed the European Union’s sanctions on President Yanukovych, EU Member States and others were required to inform the European Commission immediately of all and any information that they had regarding funds and economic resources owned or controlled by President Yanukovych which were frozen in accordance with the Regulation,” said a press release by JHA made public by Yuriy Kirasir, the press secretary of Viktor Yanukovych’s son Oleksandr Yanukovych.
According to JHA LLP, notwithstanding the fact that 3.5 years have passed since the sanctions were imposed and despite the abovementioned demand to provide information, “the European Commission has now formally confirmed that it has not received under that Article any information on funds or economic resources owned or controlled by President Yanukovych which were frozen as a result of the EU sanctions.”
Yanukovych’s lawyers in March 2017 said Swiss officials confirmed that there were no bank accounts or other assets registered in the name of Viktor Yanukovych.
