Government’s duel with oligarchs switches to Odesa beach
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/business/governments-duel-with-oligarchs-switches-to-odesa-beach-394260.html
Multi-millionaire property developer Vasyl Khmelnytsky said the “populist” methods of Odesa Governor Mikheil Saakashvili threaten investment after the former Georgian president ordered thick blocks of concrete removed on July 20 to give the public access to a city beach near property that Khmelnytsky owns on land he leases from the city.
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The public battle between Ukraine’s rich and powerful oligarchs and the government has shifted to the Black Sea port city of Odesa, and the current battleground – appropriately for a seaside city – is a beach.
Citing a broadly defined law in the Water Code that allows the public unimpeded access to shorelines, Odesa Governor Mikheil Saakashvili on July 20 ordered a fence to be removed made of concrete blocks and shattered glass that had prevented public access to a city beach.
The seashore area is part of a private residence that sits on land leased from the city government. The residence belongs to multi-millionaire property developer and former Party of Regions lawmaker Vasyl Khmelnytsky.
Khmelnytsky, in an emailed statement on July 24, said that on the day the concrete fence was removed, the city government had given him notice either to provide within 10 days permits for the leased land and other related documents, or to remove the barrier.
“But immediately after this (receiving the notice) the fence was demolished without any judicial ruling, without court executors and without even waiting for July 30, (the date) set by the city council,” Khmelnytsky said.
The Prosecutor General’s Office has cited legal hurdles and Interpol’s reluctance to put suspects on its wanted list as reasons for the slow pace of the investigations.