The High Court of Justice of England and Wales has issued an order to arrest the assets of Energy Standard Group, which is owned by Ukrainian-Russian businessman Konstantin Grigorishin, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
Such verdict was made by the court on December 20th. The ruling concerns, among other things, a number of Ukrainian enterprises – Zaporizhtransformator, Turboatom, PJSC Sumy NPO, Ukrrichflot, Zaporizhzhya Cable Plant and Svarog Asset Management.
The dispute started in 2013 and it concerned the agreement on the joint venture Stremvol Holdings Limited (the company that owns the majority of the Sumy NPO shares) and the put option contract (for sale). The agreement was signed by the plaintiffs (two companies owned by Lukyanenko) and the defendants (three firms belonging to Grigorishin).
The plaintiffs claimed that the defendants diverted part of the profit made from the joint venture through an “illegal scheme” to affiliated companies, and violated the option obligations. The plaintiffs demanded a compensation of $55.8 million and $250 million for those actions respectively. The defendants, however, denied the “illegal scheme” existed and claimed that the defendants were able to sell their shares at a price not exceeding $4 million.
