The former “Medvedchukʼs pipe” returns to state ownership

Author:
Sofiia Telishevska
Date:

The Commercial Court of the Zhytomyr region satisfied the claim of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) to recognize the stateʼs ownership of a part of the main oil pipeline "Samara — Western Direction".

The decision was made by the court at the end of June this year, according to the press service of the SPFU.

The oil pipeline was used by the Russian company "Transnaftoprodukt" for many years. Since 2011, Ukraine has been trying to return this asset to state ownership.

The NABU detectives are investigating the seizure of the oil pipeline by the "Prykarpatzakhidtrans" company from 2017. Its formal owners are Belarusian businessman Mykola Vorobei and German citizen Anatoly Schefer, market participants called Viktor Medvedchuk the informal owner of the "pipe".

As part of the investigation, they appealed to the court with a request to seize the asset. On February 23, the Higher Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) arrested the Ukrainian part of the main oil pipeline.

Since 2021, this asset has been under the management of "Ukrtransnaft" JSC. Two years ago, SPFU filed a lawsuit with the Economic Court of Zhytomyr region, in which it asked to recognize this asset as a state.