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StateWatch, with support from YouControl, develops the first register of Ukrainian assets of Russian oligarchs, and the Ministry of Justice brings forwards legislative initiatives to improve implementation of the sanctions policy

The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, StateWatch think tank and YouControl online service have jointly presented new ways, instruments and legislative initiatives to boost recovery of Ukrainian assets of the Russians and collaborators involved into the aggression against Ukraine. 

The director of the Department of Sanctions Policy at the Ministry of Justice, Inna Bohatykh, said that, within the Law of Ukraine on Sanctions, the Higher Anti-Corruption Court has already granted 19 out of 20 claims of the Ministry of Justice against sanctioned persons. In particular, the Higher Anti-Corruption Court has granted claims of the Ministry of Justice in regard to recovery of assets of the ex-president, Viktor Yanukovych, Russian oligarchs Arkadiy Rotenberg, Yevgeny Ginner, Mikhail Shelkov, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, and, in part, Oleg Deripaska and collaborator Volodymyr Saldo. On May 11, the Ministry of Justice filed a new claim against Sergey Tsekov, a member of the Council of Federation representing the so called Republic of Crimea. As of today, around 230 assets of sanctioned supporters of the Russian aggression against Ukraine have been identified in the territory of Ukraine. However, there are still from 30 to 50 assets which can be called significant, with their owners imposed the sanction of blocking after May 24, 2022, which enables further recovery upon a decision the Higher Anti-Corruption Court. The work on formation of evidence base to file new claims in the near future is currently underway.

The Ministry of Justice and other public bodies which implement the government sanctions policy are facing a wide range of difficulties in this process:

  • lack of a unified informational base which would enable fast and convenient search for subjects under sanctions
  • limited term to consider cases into recovery sanctions. Taken the practice of considering such cases by the Higher Anti-Corruption Court, their complexity and scope of files to be studied by the court, their consideration within the term established by the Code of Administrative Judiciary of Ukraine is rather complicated. 

To resolve the given issues, draft law 8392 has been elaborated. This draft law envisages creation of the State Sanctions Register with the view to providing public access to information about all persons under sanctions as well as increased term to consider claims by the High Anti-Corruption Court, expanding the circle of persons with the right to contest decisions of the High Anti-Corruption Court, which must guarantee more effective process to apply the sanction of recovery. Besides, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is currently considering draft law 8384 which establishes criminal liability for circumvention of sanctions which will prevent attempts to take assets out of ownership of a sanctioned person. The lawmakers are also considering draft law 9235 in which the Ministry of Justice requests an access to bank secrecy in regard to sanctioned persons through information inquiries. 

In turn, StateWatch think tank, within Trap Aggressor project, has presented the first register of assets of Russian Oligarchs in the territory of Ukraine which enables to track down status of property and business of the aggressor in the process of confiscation and systematize the available data. 

The register, which has been created with support of YouControl platform, includes information about 23 oligarchs from the rating 200 Richest Businessmen from the Russian Forbes in 2021 as well as a number of other Russians who, being under Ukrainian sanctions, remain beneficiaries of businesses in Ukraine. As of today, the register includes dossier on 112 Ukrainian companies of total value of corporate rights of 6 billion UAH. In particular, 12 companies have already recovered corporate rights of 21 assets, which have been arrested within different criminal proceedings, for the benefit of the state through administrative claims filed with the Higher-Anti-Corruption Court. Persons from the Russian Forbes who are not under Ukrainian sanctions and are not connected with Ukrainian assets have not been put on the list. The statuses of companies in the registers are divided into arrested (within criminal proceedings) and forfeited (upon decisions of the Higher-Anti-Corruption Court). Ukraine started the confiscation of assets under the Law of Ukraine on Sanctions in September of 2022. However, these are assets of just some Russians which have been confiscated. Therefore, the register will help to track down effectiveness of the process of confiscation.

YouControl has joined the project. StateWatch has provided a list of Russian oligarchs, with YouControl having found their assets in Ukraine. The register of StateWatch enables one to go to a company dossier in the analytical YouControl service. Following registration, it is possible to check who and in what way a legal entity is connected with, whether it have been a defendant in a criminal case, whether it has participated in tenders, plus registration data from the Unified State Register. 

Transparency of disposal of property owned by the aggressor states is the most important task in the context of accountability in regard to forfeiture of such property. 

The joint press-conference with participation of the Ministry of Justice, StateWatch and YouControl is available at the following link: