Arricano Real Estate, the biggest European investor and retail property developer in Ukraine, is concerned with the current situation of Egor Firsov, a member of Parliamentary Committee on European Integration. Arricano regards Egor Forsov’s deprivation of his deputy seat as the result of his public position regarding some powerful Ukrainian politicians in the proceedings related to their business interests, including such deputy as Alexander Granovsky and his participation in the situation around Sky Mall shopping centre published at Liga. News on 01.04.16              
(http://news.liga.net/news/politics/9889223-firsov_lishit_menya_deputatstva_prikazal_granovskiy.htm )

Businessman A. Adamovsky and his partner A. Granovsky, a people’s deputy of Verkhovna Rada, a member of Parliamentary Committee on Rule of Law and Justice, make active use of their connections in law-enforcement authorities and corrupted civil servants for pushing Arricano, which fact was fixed in journalistic investigations.

Arricano officially appealed to deputy Firsov notifying of Arricano’s rights violation in Ukraine as a foreign investor, namely, the situation around Sky Mall shopping centre, as well as of pressure on the part of law-enforcement authorities. Egor Firsov is one of the few politicians who within 4 years has not only took the time to study the history of Arricano’s rights violation in case of Sky Mall shopping centre, but also appealed to NABU and the General Prosecutor’s Office making official statement regarding the necessity to investigate the numerous unlawful actions of civil officers and officials towards Arricano and the takeover of Sky Mall shopping centre. It is after Mr. Firsov’s appeal to NABU and the General Prosecutor’s Office that he was deprived of his deputy seat. Egor Firsov’s position regarding the current events is expressed in his Open Letter to the President of Ukraine published at Ukrainska Pravda on 05.04.16 (http://blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/firsov/570398709d5da/)

Starting from 2012, as the result of numerous illegal actions, Arricano lost its control of Sky Mall shopping centre, and in 2014, it actually lost its share of the project. Within 4 years over 50 times the company officially appealed to the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, the Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the Minister of Justice Pavlo Petrenko, the General Prosecutor Victor Shokin and many People’s Deputies of Ukraine. Unfortunately, the major part of these appeals has not induced the representatives of Ukrainian authorities to take real steps for restoration of the foreign investor’s rights and the investment image of Ukraine as a whole.

We would like to notice that, apart from Ukrainian officials and politicians, Arricano, the Estonian investor in Ukraine, appealed to top pubic officials of Estonia. Consequently, the Prime Minister of Estonia, Taavi Rõivas within the framework of his working visit of Ukraine on January 13-14, 2015, addressed the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk with a request to provide for lawful restoration of Arricano’s rights for Sky Mall shopping centre. In January 2016, business-ombudsman Algirdas Shemeta investigated Arricano’s complaint regarding the outrageous law violations of Ukrgosreestr officials, acknowledged its relevancy and, by his official letter, made a point of inefficient investigation of criminal proceedings regarding the law violations of public registrars, illegal re-registrations of Sky Mall shopping centre and the profit participation rights to the Minister of Justice Pavlo Petrenko and acting Public Prosecutor of Kyiv Oleg Valenduk. He also recommended increasing temper protection of State Registry of Property Rights on Immovable Property with several authorization levels.

Mikhail Merkulov, the Director General of Arricano Real Estate, is concerned with the current situation, “Most regrettably for Arricano, the rights of foreign investors in Ukraine are practically unprotected. Having positive decisions of London courts in our hand, we are unable to recover our asset in Ukraine because Ukrainian lawsuits and cases are put ‘on hold’ at once or dismissed. Ukrainian civil servants ignore the facts, notes of top public officials of Europe and business-ombudsman. Unfortunately, the situation of Mr. Firsov is the follow-up of ‘investment climate’ and ‘European integration processes in the Ukrainian manner. We are truly grateful to Mr. Firsov for his responsible attitude to his status of People’s Deputy of Ukraine and the trust which Ukrainian people put in him. Being a member of Parliamentary Committee for European Integration, you did everything that was possible to protect the foreign interest. By trying to help us in the story of Sky Mall, you are helping to all European business in Ukraine and giving hope for positive changes.”