Cases

Penalties cancelled for flights to Crimea by Russia’s Aeroflot

The Higler Administrative Court of Ukraine (HACU) has overturned rulings by previous courts on collecting penalties from Russian Aeroflot for flights to the annexed Crimea. Aeroflot filed a cassation to the HACU with an appeal to reverse the rulings of the court of first instance and the court of appeal, referring the case for retrial. It cited violation by the courts of substantive and procedural law. The Judicial panel of the HACU believes that the cassation appeal should be satisfied. The State Aviation Administration of Ukraine had earlier fined the Russian airline the sum of UAH 261.5 million for carrying flights to Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in spring 2014.

UAH 400,000 fine and penalty against Nemiroff enforced

The Higler Economic Court of Ukraine (HECU) dismissed a cassation appeal from a subsidiary of Ukrainian Vodka Company Nemiroff against rulings adopted by courts in the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) versus Nemiroff case, of action for recovery of UAH 400,000 in the form of fine and penalty for late payment of a fine imposed by the Decision of the AMCU of 2 September 2014 for the violation of the On Protection of Economic Competition Act of Ukraine. According to the Decision made by the AMCU, the violation lies in the fact that the information provided for the Committee by the specified time was incomplete. The HECU affirmed the decisions of lower courts taking into account the fact that the Decision of AMCU was not appealed against through the courts and the interval allowed for appeals has passed, closing out the verification of its legality and validity, and the Decision of AMCU was not executed voluntarily by Nemiroff.

Ukraine International Airlines to make payment to state budget

A ruling adopted by the Kiev Economic Court sustained a claim by the Kiev Prosecutor’s Office’s against PJSC Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) for recovery of a debt of nearly UAH 27 million of the State Specialized Fund for Financing State Expenses in mandatory aviation charges.

The Airline provided passenger and cargo transportation services for 6 months of last year, but it failed to fulfill its obligations to transfer mandatory charges to the abovementioned fund. The Kiev Prosecutor’s Office filed a petition in the court against UIA to recover the multimillion hryvnya debt.

Procedure initiated to convict 6 former officials in absentia

The procedure for convictions in absentia has been initiated in 5 criminal proceedings regarding 6 former senior officials: former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, former chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine Sergiy Arbuzov, former Revenues and Duties Minister Oleksandr Klymenko, former Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and  Health Minister Raisa Bogatyrova, and her deputy, Oleksandr Stashchenko, as well as the former Deputy Revenues and Duties Minister Andriy Ignatov.

In addition, a notification of suspicion to Viktor Yanukovych and other senior public officials closest to him has been finalized on the creation of a criminal organization and participation in crimes committed by it, including abuse of authority, part 1, Article 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and commission of treason against the State of Ukraine,Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The procedure for considering a case in absentia requires a long period of time and starts from the hearing of cases in Ukrainian courts. After adjudgement of a sentence in such cases, the court rulings will be sent to the other states, where the funds and property of such senior figures have been found. In order to identify illegally acquired property and assets of all former officials, the investigating authorities have prepared and sent to the competent authorities of foreign countries more than 100 requests for legal assistance with respect to these cases. These include Austria, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Latvia and others.

Vasil Kisil & Partners represented Hongyang Metal Industry

Vasil Kisil & Partners represented the interests of Hongyang Metal Industry, an international investor in the manganese ore industry in Ukraine, at the commercial courts in land disputes with the prosecutor. Disputes concerned recognition as unlawful and cancellation of the orders of the Main Department of the State Agency of Land Resources of Ukraine in Zaporozhye Region on lease-out of the state-owned agricultural land plots and change of their intended use towards manganese ore extraction and processing, as well as invalidation of land lease agreements. The prosecutor held that the Department acted in excess of its statutory authority when it issued orders to lease out the land plots and change their intended use, and therefore, the court should recognize these orders as invalid and cancel them and should also invalidate the related land lease agreements. The local commercial court has dismissed the prosecutor’s claims in their entirety. The court has concluded that there were no grounds for recognizing as unlawful and cancelling the orders and invalidating the lease agreements. According to the legislative amendments of 2013, the State Agency of Land Resources of Ukraine and its territorial bodies are authorized to dispose of state-owned agricultural lands for all needs.  At present, the litigation is pending in a commercial court of appeal. Counsellor Oleg Kachmar and associate Yuriy Kolos under the supervision of managing partner Andriy Stelmashchuk have represented the interests of Hongyang Metal Industry in court.