KYIV (Reuters) – Ukrainian industrial and investment group Smart Holding told Reuters on Friday it will try to recover assets seized by the state from former owner Vadym Novynskyi, saying it owns the assets that were seized rather than the billionaire.
Ukraine’s domestic security service said on Thursday it had seized assets worth more than $280 million from Novynskyi after accusing him of aiding Russia, an allegation he denies. It also seized assets from him worth around $96 million in April.
Smart Holding said the assets no longer belonged to Novynskyi as he had fully divested himself of ownership of the company before Ukraine imposed sanctions on him late last year.
“It is therefore misleading and incorrect to suggest that Mr Novynskyi owns these assets,” Smart Holding said in a written statement to Reuters, adding that the company would pursue the assets in court.
Kyiv imposed sanctions on Novynskyi in December along with several leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a minority church accused by Kyiv of retaining deep ties to Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The billionaire is a prominent supporter of the church, which says it severed all links to Russia last year and that it is the victim of a political witch hunt.
(Reporting by Max Hunder, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
