Shares of Ukraine’s largest telecommunications company were seized in connection with a Yanukovych case
Interfax reported that according to Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, the Pechersk District Court in Kyiv granted the request of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine to seize the shares of communications service providers Ukrtelecom and TriMob.
"The GPU’s (Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine) organized crime division is conducting an investigation with regard to 220 million hryvnia (8.2 million USD) illegally allocated from the state budget of Ukraine on the instructions of [former President of Ukraine] Yanukovych and with regard to the privatization of 93% of Ukrtelecom shares at a price understated by 1.6 billion hryvnia (59.6 million USD)," the Prosecutor General wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
Lutsenko stated, "Today, the Pechersk District Court, in order to secure state interests and compensate for losses, granted the request of the GPU to seize the shares of Ukrtelecom and TriMob."
It was previously reported that in December 2016, the State Property Fund of Ukraine did not approve Ukrtelecom JSC’s sale of its daughter company, TriMob LLC, which owns the license for third generation or 3G communication. The deal failed because it went against the agreement signed upon the sale of 92.79% shares of Ukrtelecom to ESU LLC. This agreement from March 11, 2011 contains the provision that until its full implementation, ESU should not allow the sale of all or part of the property of Ukrtelecom, the market value of which is more than 10% of the authorized capital of JSC.
TriMob had about nine hundred thousand subscribers at the beginning of 2016. It was fourth in the market, significantly behind the leader Kyivstar mobile operator and Lifecell, formerly called Astelit. TriMob was the sole license owner for 3G communication until 2015, when the three leading mobile operators each received a similar license.
In October 2013, the System Capital Management (SCM) Group run by businessman Rinat Akhmetov bought out 100% of the shares of UA Telecominvest Limited, which in turn owned 100% of ESU LLC, which in turn owns 92.79% of Ukrtelecom.