A pretty poignant image:
Bomb threat disrupts hearing into Kolomoyskiy's appeal of PrivatBank nationalization:
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- The Kyiv Economic Court had to suspend a hearing into the appeal filed by one of Ukraine's most powerful tycoons, Ihor Kolomoyskiy, and Triantal Investments against the nationalization of PrivatBank after the court received a bomb threat.
About 45 minutes before the final stage of the hearing was scheduled to start on October 17, the court said it had received an anonymous phone call about an explosive device inside the building.
The building was evacuated immediately and officials began searching the site. It was not clear when the hearing would continue.
After the hearing's last session on October 8, many expected a final decision could be announced on October 17.
PrivatBank was nationalized in 2016 with the backing of the International Monetary Fund after risky lending practices left the bank with a shortfall of billions of dollars.
After its nationalization, the state pumped nearly $6 billion into the bank to keep it afloat.
The bank's co-founder, Kolomoyskiy, has been vocal about his intention of regaining control of the bank.
Kolomoyskiy faced investigations and government pressure in Ukraine during the presidency of Petro Poroshenko, who was succeeded by current President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is reputed to be close with Kolomoyskiy.
Deputy deputy prosecutor says no foreign assets recovered by predecessors:
By RFE/RL
Ukraine's first deputy prosecutor-general, Vitaliy Kasko, has said that in the 3 1/2 years since he left his post, the authorities haven't provided convincing evidence to recover frozen assets abroad that allegedly belong to former President Viktor Yanukovych and his inner circle.
Speaking to state-run Ukrinform agency on October 16, Kasko who was reappointed to his position in September, said that in order to recover any stolen assets from abroad, cases must be successfully investigated and prosecuted in Ukraine before claims can be made in foreign jurisdictions.
Recollecting his first tenure as deputy prosecutor-general in 2014-16, Kasko said that "we need proof in criminal cases in Ukraine to demand or ask for the return of anything from abroad."
In the 3 1/2 years since then, he said "not one kopek was retrieved related to Yanukovych or to any corruption case whatsoever."
The reason being, according to Kasko, is that not one former top official suspected of corruption was convicted in Ukraine and their frozen foreign assets tied to a specific crime.
"But one has to have patience," he said. "There are several criminal investigations under way that show promise. I won't provide time frames or start painting colorful digits in the billions, like some people did. Let's wait for the rulings."
Former Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko in 2017 said that Yanukovych and his cohorts had allegedly absconded with approximately $40 billion.
The former president abandoned office and fled to Russia in February 2014 in the wake of the Maidan pro-democracy movement.
Prosecutors are investigating Yanukovych as the alleged head of an organized crime group that includes oligarch Serhiy Kurchenko, former Revenues and Duties Minister Oleksandr Klymenko, former First Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov, and other former high-ranking officials.
Kasko resigned in 2016 over disgust with alleged graft at the Prosecutor-General's Office, then headed by Viktor Shokin.
After stepping down, Kasko said his decision was based on "the fact that the top management has turned into a body dominated by corruption and people covering each other's backs; and any attempts to change this state of affairs are conspicuously persecuted."
He continued, "To be a part of the body that instead of protecting the law, tolerates total lawlessness, I cannot and do not want to."
On September 5, Prosecutor-General Ruslan Ryaboshapka appointed Kasko as one of his deputies. (w/Ukrinform, UNIAN, Novoye Vremya, Ukrayinska Pravda, and Liga.net)