Economic Court of Odesa region has suspended privatization of the Odesa portside factory, Odesa region, until ecological audit is performed.
Reporters learned this on May 5 from Odesa municipal council deputy Oleksandr Honcharenko, who heads the public organization Zelionka (Brilliant Green) and who filed a corresponding claim to the court.
Honcharenko specified, the court ruled to stop any actions of privatizing the factory until holding mandatory ecological audit.
"I filed a claim against the Odesa portside factory in order to oblige the plant and the State Property Fund of Ukraine to perform mandatory ecological audit of the OJSC Odesa Portside Factory before it privatized, as demands the Ukrainian Law On Ecological Audit and the Ukrainian Law On Privatization Of State Property," said Honcharenko.
In his words, the first hearing in the case was held on May 5, the defendant's representative did not attend it, so the court decided to hold the next sitting on May 16.
"But what is more important, really I, strange as it may seem, has convinced today that there exists justice in our city and in our state. The court decide to stop any actions on privatizing the Odesa portside factory until the mandatory ecological audit is performed as the law requires," said Honcharenko.
As Ukrainian News has reported, the tender for selling the Odesa portside factory was called on February 20 and will be held on May 6.
On April 15 President Viktor Yuschenko with his decree No. 359/2008 suspended the Cabinet of Ministers directive No. 261-r of February 11 that approved the terms of privatization of 99.52% of the shares in the Odesa portside factory.
On April 21 the SPF released a relevant order.
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said that on April 24, Kyiv District Administrative Court suspended that orders by State Property Fund Chairwoman Valentyna Semeniuk-Samsonenko regarding the suspension of the Odesa portside factory's privatization.
April 25 Tymoshenko introduced Andrii Portnov as acting head of the State Property Fund, who later announced postponement of the tender until May 20.
The Odesa portside factory was founded in 1978; OJSC Odesa Portside Factory was established on June 16, 2004.
Its statutory fund makes UAH 798.544 million.
The plant is engaged in production of ammonia and carbamide, bulking of chemical produce received from the CIS countries.
The plant is located near Odesa on the shore of Adzhalykskyi Liman.
The Odesa portside factory monopolizes the national market of specialized services of receiving, cooling, and transshipping ammonia.
