This concerns possible abuses during the preparation for the sale of the Ocean Plaza shopping mall, an asset seized by the state by the decision of the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court. This, writes Big Kyiv, was reported by the Prosecutor General’s Office. The PromPolitInform portal informs.
According to the investigation, individual officials of the State Property Fund of Ukraine could have acted in the interests of representatives of commercial structures to create conditions for the sale of this asset to a predetermined business entity at an artificially low cost.
In particular, during the investigation, the facts of possible influence on the procedure for evaluating the shopping mall, forming the starting price of the auction, determining the terms of sale and limiting the circle of potential buyers are being checked, which could lead to the sale of a state asset at a price that does not correspond to its real market value. And therefore – to cause losses to the state budget of Ukraine.
Today, authorized searches were conducted at the residences of individual officials of the State Property Fund. During the investigative actions, documents that may be relevant to the investigation were seized.
It is not reported who exactly was searched.
The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.
It is known that the Ocean Plaza shopping mall will be put up for sale for $100 million. The Ocean Plaza shopping mall at 176 Antonovycha St. in Kyiv with a total area of 165 thousand sq. m was opened in December 2012. Investments in it amounted to about $300 million. The shopping center has about 300 stores, and about 20 thousand people visit it daily. The complex also houses the largest oceanarium in Eastern Europe.
The asset belonged to Russian oligarch Arkady Rotenberg, his son Igor Rotenberg and business partners Oleksandr Skorobahatko and Oleksandr Ponomarenko and was linked to financing the war in Ukraine. In March 2023, the shopping mall was confiscated, and in April it was transferred to the state. In June, the State Property Fund registered corporate rights to a share in the Ocean Plaza shopping mall and began preparing the asset for privatization. Since then, the auction dates have been postponed several times.
