Ukraine begins the inventory and seizure of Gazprom’s Ukrainian assets
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is stepping up its activity to recover the fine from Russia's Gazprom, the press service of the government reported.
According to the report, the executive proceeding in this case is being conducted by the Department of the State Executive Service of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on the basis of the court's decision to recover from Gazprom 171,931,854,000 hryvnia ($6.5 billion) into the general fund of the state budget of Ukraine.
The government said that in the list of assets that should be seized are the property of Gazpromsbyt Ukraine and the International Consortium for the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Management and Development.
The Ukrainian company, Ukrainian Expert Group, hired to evaluate the securities holdings of Gazprom, estimated the value of Gaztransit's shares at 630,747,656 hryvnia ($23.7 million). These shares should be sold at open auctions, the Cabinet of Ministers noted.
In January 2016, the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) imposed a fine on Gazprom for abusing the monopoly position on the natural gas market in Ukraine in the amount of almost 86 billion hryvnia ($3.2 billion). In one year, due to the penalties, the amount has doubled to almost 172 billion hryvnia ($6.5 billion). Gazprom tried to challenge the decision of the AMCU, however the courts in all instances recognized the legitimacy of Ukraine's claims.
The Russian company Gazprom denied that they had abused their monopoly situation in the natural gas transit market. Gazprom called the AMCU decision "nothing more than an attempt to exert pressure" on the Russian company, and promised to defend their rights and interests by all possible methods.