Zelenskiy takes aim at Ukraine’s richest oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy took aim at the
country’s richest businessman, Rinat Akhmetov, during a three-hour long press
conference to mark the end of his second year in office.
Held on the shop floor of Ukraine’s iconic giant Antonov
cargo plane producer in Kyiv on May 20, the conversation was wide ranging, but
included thinly veiled criticism of Akhmetov, who has been keeping his head
down and has largely avoided inclusion in the current public discussion of
Zelenskiy “de-oligarchisation” drive.
While Zelenskiy didn’t mention Akhmetov by name, the
president talked about low taxes on iron ore extraction and energy lobbying
that has led to regulators prioritising more expensive coal-powered electricity
over the cheaper state-produced nuclear energy – both core Akhmetov businesses
– which has led to losses by the state nuclear energy producer Energoatom.
Akhmetov owns Metinvest, the biggest metallurgical company
in the country, and DTEK, which is a major producer of power, both of which are
part of the Akhmetov holding System Capital Management (SCM), a multi-industry
conglomerate.
The comments are the latest in a growing drive by Bankova
(the home of the presidential administration in Kyiv) to distance the
government from the oligarchs and bring to an end their many rent-seeking
schemes. Zelenskiy laid out the ground work in his oligarch speech in March and
has since lambasted the oligarchs, many by name, in his public remarks.
The president went up a gear last month by sanctioning
Viktor Medvedchuk, the pro-Russian head of the Political Council of the
Opposition Platform, For Life Party, who has more recently been placed under
house arrest and is awaiting trial on treason charges.
Likewise, Zelenskiy’s mentor and business partner oligarch Ihor
Kolomoisky has been sanctioned by the US, and whose alleged embezzlement of
$5bn from PrivatBank and state company Centrenergo are being investigated.
Answering a question from Vasyl Holovanov, a TV host on
Akhmetov’s Ukraina channel, about raising taxes for Ukrainians, Zelenskiy
ignored the question and instead roasted the reporter, accusing him of
manipulation.
“I understand whose TV channel you work for,” Zelenskiy said
as cited by the Kyiv Post. “You could be asking a question, but (instead) you’re
passing me information, and I know from whom. Don’t manipulate. Regular
Ukrainians and small and medium businesses won’t be paying more taxes. As for
big business, we won’t let anyone make 200-300% profits using the natural
resources of Ukraine.”
Akhmetov’s companies pay a 12% iron ore extraction fee
counted from the prime cost. The government seeks to link the extraction fee to
the market price of iron ore.
More anti-oligarch legislation is in the works after
Ukraine’s Security Council that meets on Fridays recently drew up a list of 13
oligarchs. The list itself has not been released but the Kyiv Post and local
press report that both Akhmetov’s and Kolomoisky’s names are on it.
The list is the first stage in drawing up legislation to
limit the oligarchs' influence and the Security Council is now developing new
rules that would define the criteria of an oligarch and limit their influence,
Zelenskiy said without giving any details.
“There will be no influence on politics, on state officials,
on the media. The people who do it will get the label of an ‘oligarch.’ This
will harm their assets abroad, decrease their value. They will be in this
register (of oligarchs) and some sanctions will be applied to them.”
The one piece of information he did share was that a person
who designated an oligarch will be barred from holding public office. Akhmetov
is a member of parliament and is reported to control some 200 deputies in the
legislator. Kolomoisky is not a member of parliament but also reportedly controls
dozens of deputies, as bne IntelliNews described in “The Oligarch Problem.“
“The law will give them time to re-adjust. There won’t be a
dead end for them. This is a normal law that respects big business,” Zelenskiy
said. Ironically Zelenskiy seems to be taking a leaf out of Russian President
Vladimir Putin’s playbook, who early on in his first year in office held an
oligarch meeting and proposed a pragmatic deal: “Keep what you have, but stop
the stealing.” Notably oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky ignored the deal and
ended up in jail for ten years.
Zelenskiy didn’t give a direct answer to the question on
whether the Security Council will issue sanctions against oligarchs Ihor
Kolomoysky and Dmytro Firtash.
“You can expect many more interesting decisions from the
Security Council,” he said, adding jokingly: “Watch our show every
Friday.”
Comments
Post a Comment