Posted on 01/21/2005 8:26:11 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
(AP) - A Kyiv court opened proceedings Jan. 21 on whether to annul the privatization of Ukraine's largest steel mill, which was sold for $800 million (665 million euros) last year to a group that included the president's son-in-law.
The court proceedings were proposed by a parliamentary commission and a lawmaker loyal to President-elect Viktor Yushchenko, and underlined expectations that the new administration will re-examine some of Ukraine's murkiest business deals.
The Krivoryzhstal steel mill was sold by the state to coal and steel tycoons Rinat Akhmetov and Viktor Pinchuk, the son-in-law of outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, despite reported higher bids from foreign investors.
Lawmaker Pavlo Ignatenko said he had filed suit to annul the privatization, arguing the deal had violated the right of Ukrainian citizens to buy the company's stakes. Irina Nazarova, a lawyer, said a similar motion had been filed by the parliamentary Special Commission on Privatization.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Pinchuk said he was not "concerned or worried" over Krivoryzhstal's possible reprivatization and that he would accept any ruling "provided the court acts according to law."
Other bidders at the auction, including Russia's OAO Severstal and a consortium of LNM Group and United States Steel Corp., cried foul, claiming they had offered more than Pinchuk and Akhmetov.
Pinchuk said the government's choosing his consortium "was a strategic decision ... in the interest of the Ukrainian economy."
"The price paid for Krivoryzhstal is two times higher then the sum paid for all the other metallurgical factories in Ukraine," he said.
Krivoryzhstal produces about 20 percent of Ukraine's steel and had a pretax profit of about $300 million (250 million euros) in 2003. It is one of the world's most profitable steel mills, with a large degree of integration that protects it from the kind of price rises in global raw materials markets that have hit steelmakers over the last 12 months.
22.12.2004, 00:21
Should the mistakes in the privatization scheme be discovered – the Prime-minister now-on-the-leave and current Presidential candidate Victor Yanukhovich does not exclude the possibility of additional payment for the “Kryvorigsteel” metal processing plant.
Yanukhovich had stated that during the meeting with Dnieprovetrivsk city leaders during his visit to the region this Tuesday.
He noted at the same time, that the privatization of the “Kryvorigsteel” was conducted in complete compliance with the law.
“Concerning the assessment value – everything was done in accordance with the law and the rules of law were fully observed,” – he told journalists.
Yanukhovich also explained that the main task of the privatization was achieved, namely: the plant was purchased by Ukrainian investors, who had proved their stable work in Ukraine.
Yanukhovich also added that workers of the steel processing plant are enjoyed with the outcomes of the privatization: the salary is on a rise and investors follow their promises.
At the same time Victor Yuschenko promised to review the privatization of the Kryvorigsteel. According to his words, the buyer had purchased the enterprise on a price, which was significantly lower than the one, proposed by another business rivals.
As it was reported, industrial and financial consortium “The Union for Investments and Metallurgy” (or IMC in Ukrainian), owned by Renate Akhmetov and Victor Pinchuk, the son-in-law of the current Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, had purchased 93,02 % of the “Kryvorigsteel” shares on the privatization tender. The total price of the transaction was UAH 4260 million (USD 790 million).
JSC “Kryvorigsteel” is the largest Ukrainian producer of metallurgy production; it has 20 % of the market share. Facilities of the plant which has the complete producing cycle are able to produce more than 6 million tones of the rolled steel, approx. 7 million metric tones of steel and more than 7.8 million metric tones of cast iron.
Let me predict jb6's response:
Start with std straw man attack-"Oh thats just great - why dont we reverse every business deal that evryone does not like in retrospect - What a way to boost your portfolio.
Follow with straw dog fallacy- " and you won't see those russophobes asking to investigate all the aquisitions by the swiss banks of businesses run out of town by the Poles when they invaded Ukraine.
Finish with False Dilemma- "And if the Ukes can ignore the rule of law in this case, they will break all the laws"
jb6 - like I said- you have become very predictable to anyone that has taken Marxist Sophistry 101
His current M.O. is to ignore the fact that every one of the most powerful oligarchs sided with Yanukovych, while breathlessly and credulously asserting that Yushchenko's camp is all oligarches, as if Poroshenko the "candy oligarch" really ranks with the coal and steel barons Pinchuk and Akhmetov.
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