Ukraine says it seized assets of billionaire accused of aiding Russia (updated)

A-Smart Holdings

14/04/2023 21:32

(Updates with comments from Novynskyi's representatives)
    By Max Hunder
       KYIV, April 13 (Reuters) - Ukraine's security service
said on Thursday it had seized more than 3.5 billion hryvnia
($96 million) worth of assets belonging to exiled billionaire
Vadym Novynskyi, but a representative for Novynskyi said he was
no longer their owner. 
        The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has accused
Novynskyi of "aiding" Russia, which invaded Ukraine last year.
The representative, who did not want to be named, on Friday said
the billionaire denies the charge. 
    Novynskyi, whose wealth is estimated by Forbes at $1.4
billion, is one of the country's richest men, an ex-lawmaker and
a sponsor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). His
representative said he was currently in Switzerland.
        The SBU said it had seized assets including ownership
deeds to 40 Ukrainian enterprises and 30 natural gas wells.
  
        "The property of pro-Russian oligarch Vadym Novynskyi,
who is involved in aiding the aggressor country, was seized,"
the SBU said in a statement. 
  
        Novynskyi's representative said Novynskyi was a
"patriot" who supported the Ukrainian government.
  
        The seizure comes amid an escalating dispute between the
government and the UOC, which Kyiv accuses of retaining
long-standing religious ties with Moscow despite formally
cutting them in May 2022.  
  
        Some senior clergy have been accused of treason and
collaboration with Moscow. The church denies wrongdoing or that
it has relations with Russia.
  
        Novynskyi was sanctioned by Ukraine in December along
with several of the UOC's bishops, shortly after a wave of
searches on church properties. 
    Chief Executive Officer Julia Kiryanova of Smart Holding,
one of the entities which has had some of its assets seized,
told Reuters on Friday that the company was transferred on Dec.
1 from Novynskyi to a trust owned by citizens of Cyprus, and was
no longer connected to him. 
        In its statement, the SBU security agency said Novynskyi
had tried to avoid the sanctions by transferring his assets to
affiliated commercial structures.
    Kiryanova dismissed the SBU's assertions as "nonsense" and
said Novynskyi had transferred his assets to the trust before
the sanctions were put in place.
        According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's
website, sanctions against Novynskyi entered into force on Dec.
1 -- the same day Kiryanova said he transferred the assets. 
  
        However, Smart Holding's chief legal counsel told
Reuters on Friday that the names of sanctioned individuals were
not published until Dec. 2, and that the sanctions actually
entered into force on Dec. 6, when they were published on an
official portal for legislation. 
        Kiryanova said Novynskyi had commenced plans to put his
assets in a trust since the beginning of Russia's full-scale
invasion, and that he had no advance knowledge of the sanctions.
    Novynskyi previously described the sanctions as "persecution
on religious grounds."  
    SBU said it had found "pro-Kremlin religious literature"
while conducting property searches during its investigation.
Novynskyi's representative denied this had anything to do with
him.
    The representative said Novynskyi's case was driven by an
"opportunistic claim" from a former business partner, whom he
did not name.
    The details of the accusations against him for aiding Russia
have not been spelled out by the SBU. 
    Novynskyi has close ties with the UOC, where he holds the
honorary title of protodeacon, and is often vocal in his support
for the church. 
    He was regularly pictured with its most senior clerics
before the Russian invasion, as well as after it. Last November,
the head of the church travelled to Germany to meet the
billionaire.    
($1 = 36.5600 hryvnias)

 (Reporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Tom Balmforth, Mike
Harrison and Diane Craft)
 ((Max.Hunder@thomsonreuters.com;))