Members of the economic bloc of the government and the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada held a closed meeting with entrepreneurs. It discussed the pressure of law enforcement agencies on business against the backdrop of the arrest of Ihor Mazepa and searches of the Concorde Capital investment company.
This was reported by Forbes with reference to the businessmen who were present there.
The meeting took place in a mixed format — some entrepreneurs connected online. On the part of the government, the First Vice Prime Minister — Minister of Economy Yuliya Svyridenko, Deputy Prime Minister — Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, Senior Advisor to the Head of the Presidentʼs Office Daria Zarivna, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk participated in it.
Commenting on the general atmosphere of the meeting, one of the interlocutors of Forbes noted the total indignation of business regarding the actions of law enforcement agencies.
According to another businessman, there was a reaction to the statement of the Public Movement "Manifesto 42" on the case of Ihor Mazepa. "The position of business: during the war, we need to end the nightmare stories of businesses that work and pay taxes," he emphasized.
"We formally met, talked, and parted ways. A well-established scheme is to release steam. The only plus point of the meeting is that the fury of the business is obvious. I think they should be more angry than before the meeting," said another businessman.
In response to the arrest of businessman Ihor Mazepa, the Manifesto 42 public movement announced a transition to more radical forms of protest against "the arbitrariness of the rear security forces in relation to business." The association has announced a warning protest action — an hour-long stoppage of enterprises — in case the authorities do not respond to its demands.
- On Friday, January 19, the court chose a preventive measure in the form of detention for the four involved in the case, but with a bail, the amount of which is much smaller than the one requested by the investigators. Businessman Ihor Mazepa was sent to custody until February 27 with the alternative of making a bail of almost 350 million hryvnias — the prosecution asked Mazepa to set a bail of as much as 700 million hryvnias.
- Members of a criminal organization, if proven guilty, face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.