The arrested corporate rights of the Ocean Plaza shopping and entertainment center in Kyiv for more than UAH 350 million were transferred to the management of the Asset Tracing and Management Agency (ARMA). This is stated in the statement of the Prosecutor General Andrey Kostin.
“We are talking about one of the largest shopping and entertainment centers in the capital of Ukraine. Among its ultimate beneficial owners are Russian citizens from the close circle of the head of the aggressor country,” Kostin said.
According to the Prosecutor General, the proceeds from the activities of the shopping and entertainment center were transferred in a chain of financial transactions to Russian citizens.
“The latter subsequently used them, including to finance the production and supply of ammunition for the armed forces of the aggressor country,” Kostin added.
The office of the Prosecutor General does not specify the name of the mall, the seized assets of which were transferred to ARMA, but, according to sources in Interfax-Ukraine law enforcement agencies, we are talking about Ocean Plaza.
The Ocean Plaza shopping center in Kyiv actually closed on the day of the Russian invasion, February 24, but the Auchan supermarket and several other stores continued to operate on the ground floor.
Auchan later announced a “temporary closure” due to the shutdown of Ocean Plaza. The media associated this with the threat of nationalization, since the controlling stake in the mall belongs to the company of the Russian oligarch and close associate of the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin – Arkady Rotenberg.
33% of the shopping center through the Cypriot Ocean Plaza Project Ltd is owned by UPD Holdings Limited, which was recently owned by businessman Vasily Khmelnitsky. The majority share of the company’s shares belongs to the Russian TPS Real Estate. In particular, Khmelnitsky noted to Forbes that 51% definitely belong to a Russian company.
