REUTERS
Funds derived from a special confiscation procedure regarding assets of the Yanukovych regime totaling UAH 12 billion, or $444.4 million, may go to the state budget as early as in the first half of 2017, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said at his Kyiv meeting with representatives of regional media.
"I believe that in the first half of this year, it will be possible to talk about these funds already having gone to the state budget," the prime minister said.
As UNIAN reported, in July 2014, the Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine revealed some $1.5 billion in the accounts of companies affiliated with former president Viktor Yanukovych.
Read alsoAustria ready to help Ukraine recover assets stolen by ex-president's alliesIn mid-September 2016, the Cabinet of Ministers introduced an updated draft law on special confiscation of funds. Groysman noted that the blocking by the Verkhovna Rada of the return to Ukraine of assets stolen by the previous regime would lead to them being lost forever.
However, the issue remains unresolved.
Read alsoOver $1 bln in Yanukovych, Azarov's accounts in OshchadbankTo maintain the balance of 2017 budget, the government laid UAH 12 billion out of UAH 40 billion ($1.5 billion) of the expected special confiscation.