ukrtelecom.ua
The SPF will appeal another court ruling that recognized the verification of the fulfillment of ESU's obligations on the acquisition of Ukrtelecom as unlawful.
The State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine has filed an appeal against a ruling by Kyiv's Economic Court, which dismissed a claim against ESU LLC, the buyer of a 92.79% stake in Ukraine's telecoms giant Ukrtelecom.
The claim, which sought the return of the asset to state ownership, also concerned the recovery of US$81.9 million in penalty for a delay of the fulfillment of the investment obligations by the buyer.
"The decision of the Economic Court not to terminate the sale and purchase contract was appealed on December 13. By December 22, we'll file an appeal against an Administrative Court decision that recognized the verification of the fulfillment of the investment obligations as unlawful," the SPF's press service told UNIAN on December 20.
Read alsoUkraine's Supreme Court returns Ukrtelecom case for retrial
The SPF spokesperson recalled that the reason for the termination of the contract was just the results of the State Property Fund's inspection, which established that ESU LLC had failed to fulfill its obligations to invest at least $450 million in the development of Ukrtelecom.
As UNIAN reported earlier, ESU LLC (owned by the Austrian company EPIC, now Raga Establishment) in 2011 bought Ukrtelecom from the state, having paid UAH 10.57 billion for 92.79% of the telecom's shares, which were then sold to Akhmetov's System Capital Management (SCM) holding in 2013.
In May 2017, the SPF appealed against ESU in court, demanding the cancelation of the sale of Ukrtelecom's shares in connection with the buyer's failure to fulfill investment obligations estimated at US$450 million.
On October 19, 2017, Kyiv's Economic Court considered a lawsuit lodged by the State Property Fund and revoked the contract concluded in March 2011 following a privatization tender to sell Ukrtelecom shares to ESU, thus returning Ukrtelecom to state ownership.
On December 12, 2017, the Court of Appeals refused to satisfy ESU's lawsuit challenging the decision by a court of previous instance, according to which Ukrtelecom was to be returned to state ownership.
In July 2018, the Supreme Court of Ukraine considered an appeal by Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov's ESU company against the court rulings terminating the deal to privatize 92.8% of shares of Ukraine's telecoms giant Ukrtelecom and returned the case for retrial by a court of first instance.
Kyiv's Economic Court on November 7 did not satisfy the lawsuit lodged by the State Property Fund (SPF) against ESU to terminate the contract for the sale of Ukrtelecom and recover US$81.9 million in penalty for late payment of the investment obligation.
On November 9, 2018, Kyiv's District Administrative Court found the results of checks on compliance with the terms of the contract for the Ukrtelecom sale at a March 11, 2011 tender to be unlawful.