Cabinet of Ministers calls on law enforcement agencies to make every effort not to become a tool for moguls in the fight against the State

Currently, Ukraine is a party to the country's largest lawsuit in its history, within which structures close to one of the odious oligarchs are trying without any reasonable basis to snatch more than $ 5.5 billion from the State of Ukraine.

The Government and the Ministry of Justice are taking all possible measures to protect the interests of Ukraine at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, Sweden, within the framework of the aforesaid trial and to prevent groundless enforcement of funds belonging to Ukrainian citizens from the State. To this end, the best foreign legal advisers with successful experience in this kind of actions are involved in the process.

Launching a smear information campaign on allegedly instituting legal proceedings on the cases of abuse of office by the former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and acting Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko in the framework of the involvement of the world-class legal advisers in the aforementioned trial is nothing but an attempt to influence the above-mentioned process, the hearing of which is scheduled for the beginning of 2019. These statements are considered unsubstantiated and such that contradict the reality.

The Ukrainian Government appeals to all law enforcement agencies, first of all the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, with a demand to take all possible legal measures within their competence to prevent the use of their structures as a means of influence and pressure on the State by odious moguls. Law enforcement agencies must not become an instrument that would harm the interests of the State in the aforementioned and other international litigations.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, as the highest body of state executive power in Ukraine, condemns any attempts to exert pressure on the Government officials by using manipulative technologies and outright misinformation.

It should be reminded that media outlets reported false information about abuse of power by the former government and the Ministry of Justice officials in the acquisition of legal services for representing Ukraine in a lawsuit filed by minority shareholders of PJSC Ukrnafta at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce ( Sweden). Earlier, at the request of front persons the Solomyansky District Court of Kyiv ordered the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine to register information about possible offenses, without disclosure of information regarding factual allegations and names of principal officials. Names of the former Prime Minister and top officials of the Ministry of Justice appeared in this smear information campaign.

The involvement of Latham & Watkins and HoganLovells International legal advisers was conducted in strict compliance with the procedures and in accordance with the current legislation governing the selection of lawyers and consultants to protect Ukraine’s interests in international courts.