Ukranian billionaire arrested at behest of the FBI

[Magda Hassan]

Yes indeed...
I've been meaning to post this too. Heere is some more on him:

Poor Dmytro (Firtash)?

Firtash may be caught by the throat, but most other oligarchs are feeding merrily still

Can one feel sorry for a multi-millionaire ($673M according to some, $2.3B according to alternative accounts, and $3.8B to others) suspected of bribery, who reportedly admitted consorting with wanted gangsters and once boasted of his close ties to Yanukovych? If so, then spare a thought for Ukrainian gas and titanium tycoon Dmytro Firtash, arrested in Vienna on a US warrant on bribery and organised crime charges. Why on earth might one feel any sympathy for him? Not for the philanthropy, not even for the massive donations to my alma mater at Cambridge to endow Ukrainian studies. Rather than Firtash would seem to be a businessman of the regular Ukrainian oligarchic variety. What does that mean? It means certainly not clean by Western standards, but nor, in any meaningful sense, an organised crime figure himself. So what might he have been?
When he first started building his energy empire, bringing Russian gas into Ukraine, the infamous financial crime lord Semen Mogilevich was a shadowy but indispensable fixer and broker. His involvement was pretty much essential to make any Russo-Ukrainian gas deals work. So, of course, I was entirely unsurprised when the accounts (subsequently denied) of an admitted connection arose. If nothing else, there had been widespread rumours beforehand. Furthermore, Mogilevichwho has an interestingly unique role as, in effect, the boutique personal banker of choice to post-Soviet crooks of every stripewould conceivably also have been a useful contact and service provider for subsequent sub rosa activities such as moving money abroad discreetly, evading taxes or doing any of the other patriotic parlour games at which post-Soviet plutocrats excel.
That said, Firtash's attempts to present himself really as a victim of Mogilevich, forced to placate a dangerous gangster who could neither be avoided nor denied, have also been challenged. Back in 2008, the US embassy in Kiev wrote in another cable that, "As co-owner of gas intermediary RosUkrEnergo (RUE), Firtash is widely believed to be serving as a front man for far broader interests." The suggestion in the cable was that Firtash was a frontman or at least in business with Mogilevich, while other suggestions have presented Firtash as a Russian "agent" in both Ukraine and the wider world.
He could be; I do not know. He certainly has the opportunistic ability to identify useful allies, not least his magic epiphany as the Yanukovych regime crumbled and he suddenly realised what a bad egg his former patron was and instead reportedly transferred his allegiances to opposition leader Klitschko and his UDAR party. In fairness, though, I've seen no real evidence of a particular devotion to the Kremlin's line over and above that required by anyone whose business depends still on Russian goodwill to a considerable degree. Likewise, part of the reason for his bitter feud with former Ukrainian President Timoshenka was his claim that she was cooperating with Moscow against RUE. More to the point, I do not see Firtash as anywhere near the worst of the Ukrainian oligarchs, let alone if we also add the Russians into the mix.
Firtash, who was already persona non grata in the USA, made several mistakes. Being linked with Mogilevich, a man who has acquired almost mythic status in many US government perspectives on Russian/Eurasian organised crime, was a major strike against him. He is high enough profile to be a tempting political target, even though he wasn't on the EU's list of oligarchs and major figures linked with Yanukovych's kleptocracy. He didn't move quickly enough to distance himself from Yanukovych and his distinctively inefficiently bloody regime (unlike, say, Viktor Pinchuk, son-in-law of previously dirty Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, the beneficiary of sweetheart deals aplenty, now rebranded as Westernising businessman).
But Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest man, who was once named by the Ukrainian authorities as connected with organised crime and whose possessions include a handsome crop of bought-and-paid-for parliamentarians, so far is doing fine. (But then, the US embassy generously if scarcely-recognisably described him as "a moderate within [Yanukovych's] Party of Regions who, with his interest in market-oriented reforms and promotion of a good investment climate, balances more hard-line elements within the party".) And other, dirtier figures are also still free to travel, live life well and ingratiate themselves with the new regime in Kyiv, and with foreign governments and financial institutions for that matter. The point is not that Firtash ought not to be arrested: the warrant is legitimate and the charges ought to be proved or disproved in court. It is rather than Firtash is nothing special, as vastly rich oligarchs go. It seems to be that so long as you don't directly commit a crime in a Western jurisdiction and hobnob with "real" gangsters, then you can be rich, dirty and safe.
And let's also note one other thing. This has nothing to do with sanctions against Yanukovych's people, nor relating to Crimea. It's not going to cleanse Eurasian business, it's not going to put a dent into organised crime (although if Firtash really was in bed with Mogilevich, the latter might well take a financial hit but he himself is safe in no-extradition Russia and has fingers in so many pies he's unlikely to notice the loss). It's a good thing, yes. But it's just one small step in the right direction. And no, I don't feel sorry for him.

http://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/20...o-firtash/

And more here. But caveat lector because it is from the Jamestown Foundation the notorious front described elsewhere on this forum:

[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD]WikiLeaks Confirms Role Played by Firtash in Ukrainian Politics [/TD]
[TD="align: center"] [/TD]
[TD="align: center"] [/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 2"] December 09, 2010 [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 2"] Pavel Korduban

Unlike in the case of several regional neighbors, including Russia, the recent WikiLeaks transcripts hardly carry the potential of spoiling relations between Washington and the current administration in Kyiv. However, WikiLeaks has shed new light on the role of energy businessman, Dmytro Firtash, as a powerbroker in Ukrainian politics and on his links to the alleged Russian crime boss, Semion Mogilevich.
Although Firtash has denied much of what the documents made public by WikiLeaks revealed about him, it is difficult to deny the role that he played in destroying post-Orange Revolution alliances, thereby helping Viktor Yanukovych win the Ukrainian presidency earlier this year.
According to a cable allegedly written by William Taylor, who served as US Ambassador to Ukraine from 2006-2009, Firtash spoke in detail about his role in domestic politics and the gas trade with Russia, as well as his relationship with Mogilevich at a meeting with Taylor in December 2008. The meeting took place several weeks before the energy intermediary RosUkrEnergo (RUE), which Firtash co-owns with Gazprom, and which would have been banished from the Ukrainian market according to agreements between Tymoshenko and Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin.
Firtash expressed support for Yushchenko but spoke contemptuously of Tymoshenko, according to the text of the cable. Firtash allegedly told Taylor that he worked to build a coalition comprised of Yushchenko and Yanukovych who was the opposition leader at the time. Furthermore, Firtash allegedly boasted that he jointly with the Donetsk-based oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov, thwarted a Tymoshenko-Yanukovych coalition which, he claimed, had been supported by Russia. Firtash also claimed that Tymoshenko's deals with Russia would leave Ukraine vulnerable to Russian oligarchs in the future. Moreover, Firtash, according to the cable, boasted of his friendship with Yushchenko, claiming that he had advised him ever since his election as president in 2004 (Kyiv Post, December 3). Yushchenko vehemently denied any association with Firtash when he was president.
Firtash was correct in that Tymoshenko's agreements with Putin eventually increased Ukraine's dependence on Moscow. While RUE was indeed removed from Ukraine's energy market, as Tymoshenko had promised, that was a Pyrrhic victory. Moscow increased its gas price for Ukraine, and lured Tymoshenko into a dubious deal with Gazprom whereby Kyiv seized RUE's gas kept in Ukrainian storage. Consequently, in 2010 Kyiv in exchange for a gas price discount was pressured into extending the presence of the Russian navy in Sevastopol by 25 years. In 2011 it will have to return the gas seized from RUE in 2009 plus damages in accordance with a Stockholm arbitration verdict (Zerkalo Nedeli, December 3).
According to WikiLeaks, Firtash told Taylor about his ties to Mogilevich, saying that he had needed Mogilevich's approval to secure his entry into business (Kyiv Post, December 3). It had long been rumored that Mogilevich, and not Firtash, was the real founder of RUE and of its predecessor, Eural Trans Gas, so WikiLeaks did not add anything new to the picture. Firtash's press service denied any partnership between Firtash and Mogilevich, as well as the allegation that he needed permission from Mogilevich to do business. However, the press service confirmed that Firtash met with Taylor at the end of 2008 and that he had been acquainted with Mogilevich (Ukrainski Novyny, December 3). Asked by the Kommersant-Ukraine daily to comment on his alleged role in domestic politics, Firtash's press service only said that he did not want to reveal confidential information about the topics discussed during his meeting with Taylor (Kommersant-Ukraine, December 3).
Taylor, according to WikiLeaks, also reported to Washington that Firtash owned 61 percent of Inter, Ukraine's arguably most popular TV channel, which is staunchly pro-government. Inter is known to be controlled by Valery Khoroshkovsky, the security service chief. Khoroshkovsky has on several occasions denied the reports that he is a business partner of Firtash. The Russian TV anchor, Yevgeny Kiselev, who hosts the flagship political talk show Big Politics on Inter said he knew for certain that Firtash did not control Inter. Kiselev confirmed Khoroshkovsky's earlier statement that Firtash had an option to buy 50 percent of Inter shares, but had not used it (Inter, December 3).
Official reaction to WikiLeaks' publications related to Ukraine has so far been subdued, probably because nothing damaging has thus far emerged personally about Yanukovych and his political team. Prime Minister, Mykola Azarov, was the only Ukrainian official who reacted to WikiLeaks' publications last week. Speaking on Kiselev's talk show, Azarov predicted that as Ukrainians have become accustomed to political scandals nothing in WikiLeaks would astonish them. Azarov also said he was not afraid of any future publications of his own conversations by WikiLeaks. However, Azarov added that, in his opinion, the publication of secret analytical papers was inadmissible (Inter, December 3).
Source: http://www.jamestown.org/programs/edm/

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]