Kyiv Economic Court dismissed the action of the State Property Fund against ESU company on terminating the privatization contract of sale and purchase of 92.79% shares of Ukrtelecom and collecting UAH 2.2 bln, as evidenced by the court ruling dated November 7 in the Base of Court Rulings, HB reports quoting Interfax-Ukraine.
According to it, the court also dismissed the counter action of ESU against the State Property Fund on “recognizing terminated obligations under the contract as the failure to comply with it”.
In 2011, when Victor Yanukovich was the president, the only bidder ESU, owned by Austrian company EPIC, purchased Ukrtelecom.
The new owner of the largest fixed operator paid the nominal price for 92.8% shares, UAH 10.6 bln. Rinat Akhmetov’s SKM acquired ESU in two years after tender.
The people’s deputy Sergei Leshchenko conducted investigation and established that Dmitri Firtash and Sergei Levochkin were involved in privatization of Ukrtelecom.
In 2015, Ukrtelecom undertook to purchase bonds of its parent company ESU (SKM’s subsidiary) from two banks (Oshchadbank and Ukreximbank) for UAH 2 bln.
The telecommunication operator did not manage to sell its mobile asset – Trimob; that is why the company does not have money for covering bonds.
The debt payment period expired in mid-March of the last year.
