Jewish billionaire businessman Igor Kolomoisky, one of the most powerful men in the Ukraine, is calling for nationalizing the country industrial assets, claiming that their privatization was a criminal conspiracy that robbed the state of billions of dollars, the Financial Times reported.
“Until we cleanse ourselves of the past, we won’t be able really change this country for the better, ” Kolomoisky said.
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Kolomoisky said the Ukraine should not apply for loans from the International Monetary Fund, before all its “illegally privatized” property is taken back by the state.
“The Ukraine is going around begging for money . . . and here is money that is due to the state. Return these enterprises, put them up for sale in an open tender and you will get 10 times more than you did” before, he said.
Kolomoisky believes such auctions could raise tens of billions of dollars.
The INF has promised the Ukraine a $17.5 billion rescue package, and is contemplating the restructuring of $15 billion in debt.
The Ukraine’s deficit stands at $40 billion over the next four years.
According to the Financial Times, Kolomoisky’s idea is a political bombshell, and not likely to be accepted without resistance by other tycoons, who have grabbed those state assets for a song 10 and 15 years ago.
Indeed, his proposal is being criticized as his way of getting the upper hand over his billionaire rivals, positioning him for the next phase in the country’s political development.
Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatseniuk expressed his concern regarding Kolomoisky’s idea, saying it could “open a Pandora’s box.”
The FT says Igor Kolomoisky and his partner Gennady Bogolyubov manage their assets through offshore companies.
Kolomoisky is engaged in a multibillion-dollar legal battle over the ownership of a Ukrainian iron ore mine KZhRK, against rival Jewish billionaire Viktor Pinchuk in the High Court in London.
Pinchuk gained his exorbitant wealth after his father-in-law, Leonid Kuchma, became president in 1994. He has donated a great deal of money to Bill Clinton’s and Tony Blair’s charities.
Kolomoisky told the FT he plans to show evidence of the illegal acquisitions of state assets— proof of collusion, bribery and tender rigging—to Ukrainian prosecutors.
