Fighting for the Gavel

A heavy, perhaps final blow has been dealt shadow privatization in Ukraine. On July 5 Verkhovna Rada almost unanimously passed a bill enforcing a moratorium on compulsory sales of public property to private owners. From now on blocks of shares owned by the state and property complexes will be allowed to be sold on account of debts only after settling all problems in this sphere. The moratorium has no time limit and will be lifted only after parliament passes bills tentatively titled On the Executive Service, On the Resumption of the Debtor’s Solvency or Proclamation of Bankruptcy, and On the Mechanism of the Compulsory Alienation of Public Property. Yuri Hryshan, deputy chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU), presented the bill in parliament and said its main purpose was to put an end to a series of scandals ensuing from the shadow privatization for token money of several combined heat-and-power units and the giant Rosava tire-making enterprise.