Ukraine passes law against oligarchs
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference in Berlin on July 12, 2021. AP - Stefanie Loos
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Ukraine, its revolutions and its oligarchs.
Here is a cliché that has a hard skin, but which could take lead in the wing.
Indeed, the Parliament of Kiev voted this Thursday afternoon, September 23, a text at first sight revolutionary, called: "law of desoligarchization".
Under the leadership of President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine, for the first time in 25 years, is trying to reduce the influence of its oligarchs in society.
The initiative started from a good feeling, but, as so often in the country, the devil is in the details.
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With our correspondent in Kiev,
Stéphane Siohan
Twenty-four hours after an assassination attempt on Sergiy Chéfir, President Zelensky's first advisor, his evening visitor to the oligarchs, Parliament voted on Thursday for a historic text called the “anti-oligarchy law”.
For the first time, the Ukrainian state, plundered for 30 years by Mafia businessmen, will give a legal definition of what an oligarch is.
To tick the boxes, a businessman will have to meet three of the following four criteria: having a fortune in excess of $ 80 million, being in a monopoly situation, exerting influence on the media or financing political parties.
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See also: Ukraine: President Zelensky's advisor escapes an assassination attempt
Bribes by majority of deputies
A "
register of oligarchs
" will be created, and members of the government will be prohibited from meeting with these dozen "bigwigs".
Stopping interactions between politicians and businessmen makes Ukrainians smile from ear to ear, who know very well that a majority of their deputies receive bribes from these same oligarchs.
In reality, everyone is wondering how Volodymyr Zelensky will manage to get rid of these big money men, when it is the oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, the third fortune of the country, who launched his political career.
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Read also: Ukraine: two pro-Russian deputies and oligarchs indicted for national treason
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Ukraine
Volodymyr Zelensky