The Supreme Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine, known by the acronym HACC, has voided the seizure of shares belonging to businessman Dmitry Firtash in several gas companies. This development was reported by the Ukrainian outlet Economic Truth, which cited the register of court decisions as its source. The ruling marks a significant shift in the ongoing legal saga surrounding Firtash and his corporate holdings within Ukraine’s energy sector. While the court’s decision is now public, the precise legal reasoning behind it will be detailed by the VAKS press service within the coming week, as confirmed by officials close to the case. This anticipated explanation is expected to shed light on how the seizure was originally justified and what factors led to its reversal. In the meantime, the Ukrainian Asset Tracking and Management Agency ARMA indicated that it has requested the Prosecutor General’s Office to re-seize Firtash’s assets, arguing that the court’s latest move could undermine the state’s ability to recover funds and pursue criminal accountability. Elena Duma, head of ARMA, commented that the recent decision by VAKS could call into question the mechanisms that ensure state revenue flows and the legal processes designed to hold wrongdoers to account, underscoring the tension between asset recovery aims and judicial determinations that may alter sequestration outcomes.
Earlier reports from May point to the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, raising suspicions that Firtash and eight top executives within his corporate network engaged in a large-scale fuel fraud amounting to about five hundred million dollars. The allegations contend that entities under Firtash’s control purportedly purchased fuel from one of his own companies while delivering far less gas than what was paid for, with the SBU asserting that the actual gas delivery fell to roughly 30 percent of the volume claimed in transactions. This accusation has cast a long shadow over the governance and transparency of asset management within the group, intensifying scrutiny from law enforcement and regulatory bodies.
In late June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree extending sanctions against several high-profile individuals, including the industrial magnate Oleg Deripaska, Gazprom chief Alexei Miller, and VTB head Andrei Kostin. The move forms part of a broader effort to strengthen punitive measures in response to concerns about illicit finance and energy sector influence. The decree signals a continuing commitment to enforce restrictions that aim to deter activities perceived as destabilizing or harmful to national security. Earlier, Zelensky’s office outlined a new plan designed to bolster sanctions policy against Russia, signaling a strategic alignment with international partners and a robust domestic framework for tracking and restricting sanctioned entities.