Ukrainian authorities involved in attack on Ferrexpo - Magda

The billions of dollars in bail demanded by Ukrainian law enforcement as a preventive measure for Ferrexpo's directors indicates that high-ranking officials are involved in actions against the international company.

Yevhen Magda, political scientist and director of the Institute of World Policy writes about this in his blog on liga.net.

The expert points out that recently there have been regular reports of a drop in Ferrexpo shares, which, in his opinion, may indicate an attempt to exert external information influence on the company. Mahda suggests that one of the reasons for this pressure is the personality of the company's Ukrainian co-owner.

Yevhen Mahda writes that the co-owner of this company is Kostiantyn Zhevaho. A Ukrainian businessman with a difficult experience of cooperation with the national authorities. He was arrested in December 2022 in the French resort of Courchevel on a warrant issued by the Office of the Prosecutor General. However, in 2023, the French courts, up to and including the French Supreme Court, issued a number of verdicts refusing to extradite the businessman to Ukraine. The reason is political motives in the prosecution of Zhevaho, which became obvious to the French judges.

The political analyst reminds that Zhevaho's family owns a share of the opposition Espresso TV channel, which was removed from digital broadcasting in Ukraine two years ago, along with Priamyi and Channel 5.

According to Yevhen Mahda, another reason for the persecution of Konstiantyn Zhevaho is that, unlike other businessmen who are under pressure from the authorities, he has not accepted it.

"Businessmen of varying degrees of publicity have been the targets of spontaneous attention from law enforcement agencies in Ukraine. And what is especially interesting is that sometimes this attention disappeared like dew in the sun on a hot day. Therefore, we understand that some of them decided not to make a fuss, but to "look for common ground." But there were also those who publicly resisted the arbitrariness of the so-called ‘effective managers,’" the political scientist notes.

The expert emphasized that Ferrexpo is nothing new, as the company has been subject to raider attacks before.

"They have tried to squeeze the business that has become a global brand more than once. The representatives of the so-called "Luzhniki" - a Russian business group headed by Alexander Babakov, a former Deputy Speaker of the State Duma who is close to Putin - have made the greatest efforts to do so. Recently, the British courts put a final stop to these efforts. The Ukrainian authorities and the non-profit companies controlled by them got involved in a very synchronized manner, trying to get out of international business," writes Yevhen Mahda.

The political scientist reminds that Konstiantyn Zhevaho owns less than 50% of Ferrexpo, and the rest belongs to the world-famous Black Rock Corporation, which has significant financial resources and political influence around the world. Accordingly, he assumes that the government's goal is not to clarify its relationship with Mr. Zhevaho, but to take international business hostage.

Thus, Yevhen Mahda summarizes that the moral of the story is very simple: until there are fundamental changes in the Ukrainian government’s philosophy, we can talk about the existence of an investment climate (and stock market), strengthening of our country's defense capabilities and position on the world stage in spite of, not because of, the state's efforts. In the context of the war with Russia, this is a very dangerous line of behavior.