PRESS RELEASE: State registrar becomes party to raiding scheme in case of Ukraina shopping mall
Kyiv, 20 April 2012. Yesterday the state registrar Lintsova V.Y. refused, giving no reasons, to register the acting director of the public company "Univermag "Ukraina" Rostislav Levinzon, appointed by the decision of the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of 18 April of the current year. These actions of the state official create conditions for formally dismissed director Larisa Yanez Puga to keep on holding her post, and thus – for the ultimate legalization of the seizure of the shopping mall "Ukraina" by raiders. "This is the second attempt to register Rostislav Levinzon as the acting director of the public company "Univermag "Ukraina" in the Unified State Registry of Companies and Private Entrepreneurs in accordance with the decision of the latest general meeting of the shareholders. One day prior to this, the officials of the Registry announced an unplanned renovation of the premises, once our representative showed up to submit the documents. And yesterday we encountered by far the most flagrant contempt for law: the state registrar failed to provide grounds for the refusal of the registration, yet she still did not accept the application documents", commented on the situation representatives of the law firm "Magisters", which provides legal support to the majority shareholder of the "Ukraina" shopping mall, the Swedish company Quinn Holdings Sweden AB. This is the fifth time the extraordinary meeting is called to reappoint the company’s management. According to "Magisters", it is a forced measure for the lawyers. The previous decisions of the general meetings concerning the dismissal of the management of the mall have been blocked by a barrage of lawsuits from Nelyа Sergiyeva, the owner of one share, who requested the court to declare the decisions of the general meetings null and void. The shareholder’s applications for injunctions prohibiting the state registrars from registering the change of the director have been considered and allowed by the judges of the Kyiv City Commercial Court instantaneously, so as not to leave any gap in time during which the majority shareholder would be able to register the relevant change. Analyzing the situation, the "Magisters" lawyers are convinced that the refusal to accept the application documents on the part of the state registrar can be connected with the fact that the court is delaying the next ruling for the raiders, who are doing this therefore just to win time. Such actions by the state registrar Lintsova V.Y. have all formal components of a crime and must lead to criminal liability, since this is a case of a state official actively and consciously facilitating the raiding seizure of the "Ukraina" shopping mall, acknowledged as a raiding attack by the decision of the Interdepartmental Commission on Countering Illegal Mergers and Seizures of Companies headed by the then Vice Prime Minister Andriy Kliuyev. IBRC (Irish Bank Resolution Corporation) is a financial institution that is fully owned by the Republic of Ireland and thus, indirectly, by all Irish taxpayers. Prior to a name change on Oct. 14, 2011, IBRC was known as the Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Limited. Founded in 1964 in Dublin, the company continues to have its headquarters there today, with offices in other cities in Ireland and Great Britain. At the moment, the Bank is being forced to actively assert its rights and lawful interests in the suits that have been initiated very recently in the Commercial Court of the City of Kyiv with the purpose of removing encumbrances on assets that have been placed under lien in the Bank’s favor. Quinn Holdings Sweden AB was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Stockholm. Quinn Holdings Sweden AB (QHS) is the majority shareholder of PAT Univermag Ukraine, a publicly held company in Kyiv, Ukraine. Currently QHS holds nearly 93% of the company’s stock. For additional information, contact: Oleksiy Syvak, Senior Advisor, CFC Consulting Tel: +380 44 492 7599 or e-mail: os@cfc.com.ua The press release has been issued on commercial terms. The Interfax-Ukraine News Agency is not responsible for its contents.