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The Court of Appeals concluded that the ruling by Kyiv's Pechersky District Court was groundless.
The Kyiv Court of Appeals has lifted a freeze from the Kyiv-based Kuznya on Rybalsky Plant, which was acquired by Ukrainian businessman Sergiy Tigipko.
The court handed down the relevant ruling on November 19, according to the portal liga.net.
Read alsoTigipko to build residential area in territory of Kuznya on Rybalsky plant bought from Poroshenko
As reported, the court considered the complaint about the seizure of the plant' property and corporate rights, which was imposed by Kyiv's Pechersky District Court in September. The appellate court did not back the court's previous decision as well as the relevant motion filed by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI).
The Court of Appeals concluded that the ruling by Kyiv's Pechersky District Court was groundless, while the SBI motion to seize the property was submitted with the violation of the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The freeze involved a complex of industrial buildings whose area is 115,800 square meters; a fire station; a shooting club on Rybalskyi Island (a peninsula on the Dnipro River in Kyiv); seven dormitories; non-residential premises whose area is 3,600 square meters and a pavilion. Frozen were also 3.2 million registered shares issued by the plant.
The SBI was seeking the freeze as it was probing into the sale of the plant by the then Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to Tigipko.
On September 13, the SBI raided the office of Poroshenko's International Investment Bank in connection with a possible violation of the law when selling the Kuznya on Rybalsky Plant. Poroshenko was questioned as part of the investigation on July 25.
In November 2018, Tigipko's company bought Poroshenko's 73.9% stake in the plant (worth US$64.2 million) and former Ukrainian parliamentarian Ihor Kononenko's 20.1% stake (US$64.2 million).
In May, the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) fined Tigipko's company for violations when acquiring the plant. The fine was UAH 136,000 (US$5,674).
Tigipko plans to build residential houses and a large retail and office center in the territory occupied by the Kuznya on Rybalsky Plant. Thus, the businessman raised US$600 million in investment under the project.