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Zelenskiy gave an oligarch speech
in March where he launched a drive to limit their access to government and related money-making schemes. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, linked the attack to the president’s efforts to limit the influence of oligarchs on politics in Ukraine, the New York Times reports.
The oligarchs also have a history of open violence. Former NBU governor Valeriya Gontareva told bne IntelliNews in an exclusive interview that “I fear
for my life,” and had been threatened by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky after she nationalised his bank in 2016. She
later quit her job after a coffin with
her effigy was delivered to the doors
of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) while she was still governor. Later her house was torched in an arson attack. The NBU issued a statement at the
time calling for an end of the terror campaign against its current and former employees, blaming Kolomoisky by name for the attacks.
While Kolomoisky has been singled out and a special anti-Kolomoisky banking law was passed last year to prevent him from retaking control
of PrivatBank, the other oligarchs are also under fire as Zelenskiy's anti-oligarch campaign gathers momentum and closes down corrupt schemes, thereby affecting several of Ukraine’s top businessmen, costing them millions of dollars.
The news will come as a blow to those who believed that Ukraine had moved on from the “oligarch-on-oligarch” turf wars that plagued much of the former Soviet Union in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse in the 1990s. Zelenskiy’s “de-oligarchisation” push may have been the motive behind this attack.
Podolyak called the assassination attempt a “belligerent pushback” against Zelenskiy’s policy to “reduce the traditional influence of shadow oligarchs on social processes,” he told Interfax. “Indeed, we link this attack to the aggressive or even belligerent pushback on the active policy of the head of state,” he said.”
Ukraine passes anti-oligarch law
Cameron Jones in London
Ukrainian MPs have voted to approve a bill to restrict the influence of oligarchs on Ukrainian political life. The bill forbids oligarchs to make contributions in support of political parties and to participate in large-scale privatisations, and forces them to disclose their assets.
The parliamentary vote demonstrates the belated determination of President Volodymyr Zelensky to take on the country's most powerful businessmen, including his former patron Ihor Kolomoisky.
The overwhelming majority of votes for the bill was given by the presidential party Servant of the People, with 229; other votes came from For the Future, 18; Trust, 15; and Voice, 11. However, 23 MPs from the party Eurosolidarity and 20 from OPZZh were opposed.
The vote came the day after an assassination attempt against one of the president’s top aides, which some people claimed was a warning shot against the bill.
According to the adopted law, the oligarchs will be named by the National Security and Defence Council at the request of the Cabinet of Ministers, the security service, the national bank, a member of the National Security and Defence Council or the Antimonopoly Committee. The decision of the National Security and Defence Council is put into effect by the president. It enters into force after its official publication.
An oligarch is a person who has significant economic and political weight in public life. An oligarch will be a person who meets at least three of the criteria prescribed by law:
• participates in political life;
• has a significant impact on the media;
• is the ultimate beneficial owner of an entity that holds a monopoly position in the market and maintains or strengthens such a position for a consecutive year;
• the confirmed value of that person's assets (and business entities of which he is a beneficiary) exceeds UAH2.3bn ($49mn)
The National Security and Defence Council, which in March “identified 13 oligarchs,” will also take care of the register of oligarchs.The register will indicate the data on the oligarch, his assets and the list of politicians in whose work he is involved.
If a person is designated an oligarch they are barred from standing for public office, make contributions to political parties or participating in large-scale privatisation. Also, persons from this register will have to submit a declaration of income. In addition, the law introduces the concept of “declaration of contacts” and they must name the civil servants they or their representative have been in contact with.
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