Ukrainian court unfreezes dozens of accounts of Yanukovych allies' firms – media

Kyiv's Pechersky court, over a just a month, ruled that the freezing order be lifted as regards at least 26 accounts, which law enforcers associate with fugitive Ukrainian ex-president Viktor Yanukovych's allies.

The accounts were seized in the case being investigated by the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO). The investigators believe that some companies' registration documents included false information. The suspects also allegedly facilitated money laundering. Their actions preceded the legalization of illegally obtained funds, according to the court rulings published in the Unified State Register of Judicial Decisions, as reported by the Economic Pravda online newspaper on December 14.

Some enterprises in November-December managed to "unfreeze" their accounts and VAT refunds.

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These are Ascor-Invest, Gandalf, Figaro Evolution, Ecotrade 2016, Fartisima, Farshmag, and In-Tom.

Most of them are also subject to other court proceedings, in particular, related to the embezzlement in Ukraine's state-owned railways operator Ukrzaliznytsia. Investigators claimed the companies involved supposedly belonged to Yanukovych's son, Oleksandr.

The judges decided that the investigation had not proved the involvement of the companies in crimes committed and the illegality of their assets.

The amount of money kept in the previously frozen accounts has not been disclosed. However, in late November, the publication's sources in the PGO reported that the Yanukovych team sought to unfreeze US$250 million. In one of the cases, the freezing order remained in place. However, based on judicial decisions, these funds also appear in dozens of accounts unfrozen in November.

It was earlier reported that the freezing order on accounts in Oleksandr Yanukovych's bank had been cancelled. The funds were later frozen in Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's bank.