On Jan. 22, oil and gas company Burisma Holding Ltd. issued a news release saying that a British court dropped the criminal charges against Ukraine's ex-Ecology Minister Mykola Zlochevsky for lack of evidence. However, the investigation is continuing.
Zlochevsky held office during President Viktor Yanukovych's rule and was suspected of money laundering.
Zlochevsky is Burisma’s only shareholder.
His U.K.-based banking accounts containing some $23 million were unfrozen through the same ruling. Ukraine’s prosecutors put him on a wanted list, according to Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema’s Jan. 16 statement (quote starts at 9:40) However, his name cannot be found in the list of wanted individuals who are hiding from the authorities provided by the official website of the Interior Ministry as of Jan. 23.
Burisma Holdings refuted media sources which state Zlochevsky being on Ukraine’s wanted list and which suspect him of financial corruption. Prosecutors have not responded to a request to clarify the issue.
The British investigation which lasted for nine months focused on Zlochevsky’s alleged financial corruption where he was suspected of using his ministerial power in order to gain access to oil and natural gas extraction licenses for his private company.
The Kyiv Post sent requests to the Ministry of Ecology on Jan. 19 to receive a list of licenses that belong to Zlochevsky’s companies, but have not received any response yet.
The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales said that it analyzed the period of 2002-2014 in regards to Zlochevsky, found him non-guilty and will not keep investigating the case further, according to Burisma Holding’s statement.
The London-based Serious Fraud Office told the Kyiv Post that the discharge was decided by the judge since “there was insufficient evidence to meet the threshold required by the U.K.’s legislation to keep the restraint order in place.”
However, statement reads that the “criminal investigation into activities of Mr. Zlochevsky continues.”
Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema during a Jan. 16 press conferences talks about putting ex-Ecology Minister Mykola Zlochevsky on a wanted list for suspected financial corruption.
The original announcement of the asset restraint was published on April 28, 2014.
“The British judicial system never caused us doubt on the subject of objectivity of judgments, and we expect Ukraine to observe the same standards of due process of law and acceptance of European norms consistent with its aspiration to eventually join the European Union,” the release quoted the company’s board of directors chairman Alan Apter.
Burisma confirmed that it encompasses four hydrocarbon companies – energy service company Esko-Pivnich, Pari, First Ukrainian Petroleum Company and Aldea. The company’s 2014 natural gas production grew to 692 million cubic meters, 50.4 percent up from the previous year. All extractions are domestically traded, according to the company.
Kyiv Post staff writer Ilya Timtchenko can be reached at [email protected].
