The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, being under pressure from the Security Service of Ukraine, once again violated international and Ukrainian legislation and forcibly returned Vadym Novynskyi to the list of ultimate beneficiaries of the companies of Smart Holding Group, thus grossly violating the rights of the Cypriot Trustees. This made it possible to seize other companies of the Group, in particular, real estate and shipbuilding assets, to suspend the licenses of Enwell Energy, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Disrespect is shown not only to the committed Ukrainian investor, but also to international investors. Discussions about an attractive investment climate, presentations of a post-war dream country are a brutal deception of the international community.
We stated that the actions of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine are a complete lawlessness, where there are no legal grounds for the charges, where the norms of the national and international legislation are ignored, and property rights are devalued in order to seize assets.
We noted that the result of blocking business operations would be lost jobs. We called on the authorities to take legal actions, to have dialogue in order to prevent businesses from halting and people from being fired.
We appealed to the authorities to stop the lawless actions of law enforcement officers and unblock business operations so that 3,000 Ukrainians would have jobs and receive salaries, and the state would receive taxes. Since 10 April, the state has lost UAH 125 million in taxes, and continues to lose.
We have not been heard. Illegal actions continued. The Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine continue to neglect the national and international legislation, forcefully remove international trustees from the registers, and continue seizures. At the same time, the Ministry of Justice so hastily cancelled its previous registration deeds that in some companies all previous changes were also cancelled, namely such as the location addresses and appointments of directors. And the Security Service of Ukraine was in such a hurry to quickly report on new seizures that they did not even wait for the information to be entered in the register.
This next wave of seizures is a continuation of raiding actions and a race for assets in the interests of certain groups in full cooperation with the corrupt state. At the same time, no investigations were carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine. There is no evidence and no witnesses in the case in which the business is the object of charges.
The activities of the Ukrainian socially responsible business, which until now continued to pay salaries and taxes, help the Armed Forces of Ukraine, local self-government bodies, cities, communities, and medical institutions, have been blocked. Unfortunately, the authorities have demonstrated that they are indifferent to the fact that amid the war they deprive three thousand Ukrainians of jobs and income, do not respect the property right, and have no respect for the national and international legislation. Only unindifference to their own wallets and flourishing corruption is observed. We have seen all this during all 30 years of independence. The war not only failed to stop this corrupt practices, but rather intensified the lawlessness against the background of a vertically organized raider state system and the absence of freedom of speech.
We are not the only ones who suffer from raiding actions sold out to disillusioned public under patriotic slogans. The voice of business is the basis of a strong state, and the number of such voices is growing. We will be heard.
Being unable to continue operational activities, we are forced to lay off people. We did not do this even in the temporarily occupied territories and continued to pay salaries. Today we have been left with no other choice.
We hereby declare that we will be defending our rights in courts of various jurisdictions.
We will go consistently, persistently, step by step after those whose criminal actions destroy the country's economy, and we will achieve the truth, because the truth will win, and free, unbreakable, and independent Ukraine will win.