Seed money for a Harvard research center in Kyiv came from an Austrian company linked to the son of Ukraine’s prime minister, whose ownership structure leads to the Cayman Islands.
Sustainable Ukraine, a Vienna-based limited liability company where Party of Regions parliamentarian Oleksiy Azarov was the managing director in 2011, according to documents published by Ukrainska Pravda, issued a grant for an undisclosed amount to the university to explore the possibility of establishing a research center in Kyiv.
It is being done through the storied university’s Ukrainian Research Institute.
Harvard has two local volunteers for the exploratory phase: Kyiv Mohyla Academy Associate Professor Mykhailo Minakov who has taught at Harvard, and Natalia Sheiko, head of Sustainable Ukraine’s representative office in Kyiv.
Minakov told the Kyiv Post that $4 million needs to be raised from the Ukrainian business and philanthropic community to launch the project.
“It’s still a question of ‘if,’ but we’re at the critical point where the business community can have a say in the support of cultural exchange and science,” said Minakov. “It’s about ‘brain gain,’ the import of brains rather than their export.”
Oleksiy Azarov, 42, was also the head of Sustainable Ukraine’s organizing committee in August 2012. On its website the company describes itself as a foundation that supports various cultural and socio-economic endeavors devoted to the development of Ukraine.
No telephone number is listed on Sustainable Ukraine’s website and the Kyiv Post didn’t receive a response to an e-mailed inquiry.
Oleksiy Azarov is the son of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and was elected to parliament in October 2012 in a single-mandate district of Donetsk Oblast.
Sustainable Ukraine was established on December 1, 2010, according to firmencheck.at, an online company registry in Austria. It was started with €35,000 in capital from Vienna-based Sprecht Asset Management Services, which is the company’s 100 percent shareholder.
Oleksiy Azarov was listed as co-managing director of Sustainable Ukraine on Oct. 27, 2011, along with Dr. Friedrich Bubla, who is still listed as its head. Ukrainian Olympic Committee head and International Olympic Committee presidential candidate Serhiy Bubka is listed as a supervisory board member of the limited liability company.
In turn, Sprecht Asset Management is owned by S.A.L.E.M. Assets Holding in Vienna, according to documents provided by Kyiv Post partner Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. It is owned by DHC Limited registered in the Cayman Islands, according to OCCRP-provided company documents.
U.K.-based Tax Justice Network named the Cayman Islands the second most secretive jurisdiction after Switzerland in its latest Financial Secrecy Index.
Kyiv Post editor Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected]
