On August 29, 2024, the investigating judge of the Solomianskyi district Court of Kyiv issued rulings that cancelled the arrest of three shopping malls of the Arricano Group of Companies in Ukraine – Sun Gallery (Kryvyi Rih), CITY MALL (Zaporizhzhia) and Prospekt (Kyiv). Earlier, the arrest of another asset of the Arricano Group in Ukraine – RayON shopping mall (Kyiv) was canceled 

During the consideration of the cases, the lawyers of the Arricano Group of Companies in Ukraine gave the court their arguments and convincing evidence about the groundlessness of the arrests of the shopping mall and the absence of a further need for their arrest. 

"The court's decision to cancel the arrests is a victory, first of all, of common sense and justice. We have always said that the accusations made by law enforcement officers against Arricano are absurd and that attempts to block the operation of the shopping mall harm, first of all, the reputation of the state's business climate. Therefore, with our persistent and consistent position, we forced the court to pay attention to our arguments, evidence and obvious facts, which finally led to the adoption of lawful decisions by the court," says Margus Kurm, Director of Arricano Real Estate PLC (Cyprus). 

"The court decision gives us a restrained optimism that the case will go into a civilized legal direction on the part of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine and will continue to be conducted without trying to block and seize the shopping mall, but in order to understand and restore justice," adds Margus Kurm, "But, unfortunately, we do not exclude increased pressure from law enforcement agencies and attempts to resume the process of seizing assets. In any case, we are confident in our own position and will continue to seek the truth."

The next stage of the struggle will be the consideration of the prosecutor's appeal against the decision of the investigating judge to cancel the arrest of the RayON shopping mall (Kyiv), which is scheduled for September 5, 2024. From a legal point of view, it should be noted that such an appeal and consideration violate the criminal procedural laws and the legal position of the Joint Chamber of the Criminal Court of Cassation as part of the Supreme Court (decision of May 20, 2024 in case No. 712/191/23), according to which the decisions of the investigating judge on the full or partial cancellation of the seizure of property, decided in accordance with Art. 174 of the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine (at the request of the owner of such property), are not subject to appeal. 

Since the autumn of 2023, the Arricano Group of Companies in Ukraine and its employees have been under systemic pressure from the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine. The Company believes that the case is ordered, and this pressure is an attempt by corrupt officials to seize the assets of Arricano Real Estate PLC. The company has also repeatedly stated that it will defend its position both in Ukraine and abroad.