PRESS RELEASE: Valeriy Khoroshkovsky steps in to protect shopping mall "Ukraina"
Kyiv, 29 May 2012. The First Vice-Prime Minister of Ukraine Valeriy Khoroshkovsky gave instructions to submit an inquiry to the Highest Judicial Council concerning the need to bring to accountability the judges, who issued judgments in favor of the unlawful seizure of the shopping mall "Ukraina". The move was the result of today's meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission on Countering Illegal Mergers and Takeovers of companies, headed by the First Vice-Premier.
The decision of the Commission is not the first time the government reacted to the situation around the shopping mall "Ukraina". The Commission confirmed the conclusions of the previous meeting of 9 February 2012, which qualified the situation around the Mall as a raiding seizure. The Commission emphasized the breach of the rights of the majority shareholder of the company, the Swedish company Quinn Holdings Sweden AB, brought about by the unlawful seizure by a group of people of the control over the company. In spite of this, on the same day (9 February 2012) the Kyiv City Commercial Appeals Court re-endorsed the decision of the Kyiv City Commercial Court in the case concerning the payment by the shopping mall "Ukraina" of $45.2 million debt to the offshore company Lyndhurst Development Trading S.A.
"The situations which we consider at the meeting have one and the same scenario: a court makes a judgment, state authorities do not react appropriately, and as a result the lawful owner is deprived of his property", stated Valeriy Khoroshkovsky. As the First Vice-Prime Minister's press service informs, he also noted that the inactive government in fact becomes an accomplice in such unlawful actions and stressed on the personal responsibility of officials with respect to the protection of the interests of the entrepreneurs.
The judicial hearing of "Ukraina" case is not an exception. As lawyers representing the interests of the majority shareholder of this company note, this case was accompanied by numerous breaches of the norms of material and procedural law, which led to the unlawful decisions in the Ukrainian commercial courts, from the very beginning.
"The latest example of this was the decision of the High Commercial Court of Ukraine, which re-endorsed the legality of the decisions of the previous courts concerning the recovery of $45.2 million from the shopping mall "Ukraina". Nevertheless, we hope that the latest statement of the First Vice Prime-Minister Valeriy Khoroshkovsky will send a clear signal to state authorities charged with countering corporate raiding, and, in particular, will facilitate the protection of the rights of the lawful owners of the public JSC "Univermag "Ukraina", said the representative of the law firm Magisters Arsen Milyutin.
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 “Ukraina”, 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: [email protected]
The press release has been issued on commercial terms. The Interfax-Ukraine News Agency is not responsible for its contents.