Ukraine court freezes Poroshenko assets

A Kyiv district court ruled on Jan. 6 to arrest all of
the assets belonging to former president Petro Poroshenko, the Prosecutor
General’s Office (PGO) reported the same day. The ruling has been made as a
part of criminal investigation of state treason and the financing of terrorist
organizations, allegedly committed by Poroshenko in 2014-2015.

The full list of frozen assets is going to be
published along with the full text of the court’s ruling on Jan. 14,
Interfax-Ukraine reported. Meanwhile, Poroshenko’s party European Solidarity
reported on Jan. 6 that the arrested assets include the two TV channels which Poroshenko officially disposed of in November.
The party accused the government of attempting to “clean up the information
space” and called the arrest of all Poroshenko’s assets as illegal. The next
day, the State Bureau of Investigations denied that the assets of the TV
channels had been arrested. It also highlighted that the court ruling does not prevent
Poroshenko from using his assets, and only bans their disposal.

Recall, the PGO reported on Dec. 20 it had filed a
letter of suspicion against Poroshenko, related to his possible role in the purchase of coal from occupied territories of Ukraine for UAH
215 mln in December 2014 – November 2015. Poroshenko, who
went abroad on Dec. 20, reported on Dec. 6 that he is going to come back to
Ukraine on Jan. 17.

James Hydzik: The freezing of Poroshenko’s assets indicates that Ukraine’s holiday
season is over. Poroshenko’s support of the government is probably seen as
unnecessary in the current turbulence, given that the official U.S. position is
“nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” and public opinion is hostile
to Russian incursions. Poroshenko’s absence is also seen as a weakness in some
quarters, which makes him an easier target. However, the Zelensky
administration cannot assume that it is not under observation regarding such
issues just because of the negotiations with Russia in Geneva, so making sure
that issues such as those connected with Poroshenko’s former TV channels must
be clear and rational.