Ukraine’s Richest Man Returns Home Despite Legal Probe

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian tycoon Rinat Akhmetov has returned home from abroad despite the threat of questioning by prosecutors.

Ukrainian tycoon Rinat Akhmetov
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office wants to question Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, about criminal cases linked to gangland violence a decade ago in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, the center of mining region. So far, no charges have been brought against him. Akhmetov’s business empire is based in Donetsk and includes steel and machine-building plants, telecom companies, banks and the Shakhtar soccer club.

Akhmetov is an ally of Viktor Yanukovich, a former prime minister of Ukraine and the rival of the current president Viktor Yushchenko during last year’s presidential elections.

Last week, before the second vote for the president’s candidate for PM in the Ukrainian parliament, Yushchenko and Yanukovich concluded a pact of guarantees for the opposition. Experts quoted by Reuters speculated that Akhmetov who has been in Western Europe for months, had been able to return as part of this deal.

“Now any legal action against Mr. Akhmetov, including those unrelated to his political activities, could be seen as a violation of the Memorandum by the authorities,” Taras Chornovil, an opposition deputy, said. “In the current situation with the president relatively weakened, he will not take any such steps.”

Akhmetov, whose fortune is estimated at about $2.4 billion, has so far failed to appear before prosecutors. He has said in the past that he has nothing to fear. Akhmetov has already lost a prominent asset —- Ukraine’s largest steel mill Kryvoryzhstal. The plant was sold to Akhmetov and his partners for a price below other offers in June 2004 in a selloff denounced by Yushchenko as “theft”. The country’s courts overturned the sale and a new one is planned for Oct. 24.

Source: MosNews