The head of the parliamentary committee on economic policy, deputy head of the People's Front faction Andriy Ivanchuk, considers the sale of PJSC Odesa port-side chemical plant, which owes UAH 5 billion to Dmytro Firtash's Ostchem Holding Ltd, to be a criminal act and has called on prosecutors to intervene.

"The plant's debt of UAH 5 billion to Ostchem is a crime. This is a fake debt artificially engineered by former corrupt officials under disgraced former [Ukrainian] President Viktor Yanukovych. If we compel our investor, the buyer of our strategic enterprise, to pay back UAH 5 billion to Ostchem, the state will receive UAH 5 billion less... Please consider my statement to be an official deputy request. I will send the relevant document to the prosecutor general," Ivanchuk said at a cabinet meeting.

Head of the State Property Fund Ihor Bilous said the plant put up for sale owes Ostchem Holding Ltd., part of Group DF held by Dmytro Firtash, the nominal amount of $193 million. He said the buyer of the plant would be responsible for settling the debt.

"The investor will have to deal with ongoing activities, which include this debt," Bilous said during his presentation at a cabinet meeting about conditions for privatizing the plant.