Throughout its history, DCH has been aiming to ensure that the economy of Ukraine develops sustainably, integrates into the global economy and enables investors from different countries to cooperate fruitfully. These are key principles used in all investment projects including joint work with Chinese investors of Motor Sich.
Unfortunately, the processes that are now occurring in relation to Motor Sich cannot but cause concern. Yesterday, after the Chinese investors disclosed information about a joint application with DCH to Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine as part of the mandatory disclosure on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the prosecutor's office additionally seized the shares and further qualified the situation as high treason. Moreover, we see employees of Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine being under pressure, which intends to prevent us from implementing our agreements with Chinese partners and, in general, to prevent them, the legal shareholders of Motor Sich, from disposing of their property and exercising their equity rights.
Of course, law enforcement agencies must maintain law. However, this poses the question: who exactly is a high traitor in this situation? A person who wants to revive a dying enterprise, keep jobs for 25 thousand citizens of Ukraine and show that our country has a powerful aircraft industry? Or those who prevent law-abiding investors from doing this? I believe that the answer is clear for any sane person and patriot.
In this case, all controversial issues can be settled in a lawful manner taking into account the rules of Ukrainian and international law. Therefore, it is odd to see when some officials continue to put pressure on business, violate the rights of foreign investors, and trample on the rule of law as a fundamental principle of democracy in the times of the new government that declares the most preferential treatment of investors.
The politically motivated illegal decisions of law enforcement and regulatory authorities are extremely similar to everything that DCH faced in 2016 when launching KhTP after it was unfairly shutdown by the previous government under the same pretext — treason. Let me remind you that all charges have been dropped since then. The plant has been operating and manufacturing products. Moreover, it is home to a high-tech business park that we are creating, but we are yet to restore the output due to downtime caused by the raiding actions of the previous government.
In case of Motor Sich, everything happens as if it were a carbon copy, and this should be qualified as state raiding where, by inertia, at the executive level, the precursors’ directive is implemented — arrest, accuse, take away.
Our partners — private Chinese investors — have invested in a private Ukrainian enterprise intending to modernize it and ensure that it supplies products, which are important to Ukraine, to the domestic market of the PRC. If the government of Ukraine continues to prevent them from exercising their legitimate rights and interests, the consequences can be extremely unfavorable for our country. Presumably, it may include the filing of multimillion-dollar actions by the Chinese party in international courts and a significant cooling in bilateral relations with China as a key trading partner of Ukraine.
Everyone knows that the security officials and representatives of Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine have been putting pressure on the Chinese shareholders of Motor Sich for several years. Its artificiality, misrepresentation, and political overtones are obvious to everyone. If, in addition to the corrupt intentions of officials, there were some objective circumstances, make no mistake about it — the previous government would have brought this process to the end, i.e., to an international scandal. The three years that have passed since the arrest of the Motor Sich shares are enough to sort things out and decide whether it is legal or illegal. However, no one risked to outrage bluntly, since it would be a gross violation to consider the following situation to be a crime: when the businessmen lawfully purchase shares of a private joint-stock company from a businessman. Any country and any pragmatic government need no negative international assessment of actions towards investors.
DCH is ready to use its experience and knowledge to ensure that Motor Sich develops and works for the benefit of Ukraine. We guarantee that the existing manufacturing capabilities, technologies, jobs, and intellectual property rights will be reserved and developed. We will do our best to provide confidence in the future to the personnel of the enterprise and protect the interests of Ukrainians. This is extremely important because the enterprise has virtually no owner at the moment, its performance indicators are steadily deteriorating, and urgent anti-crisis measures are needed to prevent its final destruction.
However, it is unacceptable to make any attempts to force investors to come to an agreement with someone. It has to be considered within the framework of anti-corruption legislation. We are open to honest public dialogue in a lawful manner. The government and business have one common interest — well-being of Ukraine.
I would like to thank Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, for his attention to Motor Sich JSC that is the foundation for the aircraft industry of Ukraine. On behalf of DCH and our Chinese partners, I ask the President to intervene in this situation. I hope that a statist decision will be made that will preserve Motor Sich for Ukraine and will comply with the national interests of our country thanks to the political will of the authorities.
Sincerely
President and Owner of DCH
Aleksandr Yaroslavskyi
