Dmytro Firtash
Encyclopedia
Dmytro Firtash is a Ukrainian
businessman and billionaire ($961 million).
Firtash first steps in business where in in the food industry in the early 1990s before moving into gas trading.
At the 2002 parliamentary elections
Firtash was number 12 at the election list of Women for the Future
.
and controls much of Ukraine’s promising and lucrative titanium
business. He gained control of previously state-owned titanium assets across Ukraine in 2004. He also owns a chemicals plant. In May 2011 Firtash took over Nadra Bank (at the time Ukraine's 11th largest bank), Nadra Bank had gone into default in 2009 but it had restructured its foreign debt with significant write-offs since.
Firtash was elected chairman of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine
, a joint representative agency of employers at national level, on December 2, 2010.
Firtash told U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine
William Taylor
of needing permission from alleged Russia
n crime boss Semyon Mogilevich to do business in Ukraine during the lawless 1990s. Firtash also claimed to be friends with President Viktor Yushchenko
. Firtash denied the remarks. Allegedly, Gazprom
, a Russian natural-gas
extraction company, had asked Mogilevich to oversee natural-gas deliveries from Russia to Ukraine via gas intermediary RosUkrEnergo
. All parties deny connections with Mogilevich. Other cables said Firtash and Mogilevich were linked through ostensible offshore company vehicles either by joint ownership through former spouses or through Firtash heading companies in which Mogilevich’s former spouse was the shareholder. It was also suspected that Raiffeisen Bank, an Austrian-based bank, was a front to legitimize RosUkrEnergo.
On June 16, 2009, Yulia Tymoshenko
accused fellow candidates in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election, Viktor Yushchenko
, Arseniy Yatseniuk and Viktor Yanukovych
of having the same campaign headquarters financed by Firtash. On April 26, 2011 Tymoshenko suit Firtash and RosUkrEnergo in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan
accusing them of "defrauding Ukraine's citizenry by manipulating an arbitration court ruling, "undermining the rule of law in Ukraine" in connection with an 2010 international arbitration court ruling in Stockholm
that ordered Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz to pay RosUkrEnergo 11 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural-gas to compensate for fuel it had "expropriated" plus 1.1 billion bcm as a penalty.
Allegedly Firtash and Ukrainian energy minister
Yuriy Boiko "are close associates".
was founded by Ukrainian program (Cambridge Ukrainian Studies). It's goal - promoting the study of Ukraine to the UK and abroad. During the 2008-2010 Ukrainian program operated in an experimental mode, and since 2010 - operates on an ongoing basis, thanks to donations from Dmitry Firtash in the amount of 4.3 million pounds.
In 2010, Firtash initiated the signing of a memorandum on strategic cooperation between the Group DF and NTU (KPI). In the framework of Group DF will facilitate the updating of teaching and research material resources of the University to accept students NTU "KPI" for passage of manufacturing practices, and to implement science and technology and innovation, developed in conjunction with the laboratories of the University.
In 2011, the University of Cambridge, with financial support from Dmitry Firtash, offers a master's program for students from Ukraine.
In 2011, Firtash made substantial donations to the Ukrainian Catholic University
in Lviv
. Patriarch Kirill awarded Firtash in October 2011.
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
businessman and billionaire ($961 million).
Firtash first steps in business where in in the food industry in the early 1990s before moving into gas trading.
At the 2002 parliamentary elections
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2002
Ukrainian parliamentary election of 2002 took place on March 31. Half of the deputies to Verkhovna Rada were elected on proportional basis, while the other half were elected by popular vote in single-mandate constituencies...
Firtash was number 12 at the election list of Women for the Future
Women for the Future
"All-Ukrainian Political Union Women for the Future" is a political party in Ukraine registered on March 30, 2001. At the legislative elections of 30 March 2002, the party won 2.1 % of the popular vote and no seats; although final poll results had predicted 5% till 6% of the total votes for the...
.
Assets
Firtash is co-owner of RosUkrEnergoRosUkrEnergo
RosUkrEnergo is a Swiss-registered venture company that transports natural gas from Turkmenistan to East European countries. 50% of the company is owned by Gazprom, through its daughter Swiss-registered Rosgas Holding A.G., and another 50% by Swiss-registered private company Centragas Holding A.G.,...
and controls much of Ukraine’s promising and lucrative titanium
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
business. He gained control of previously state-owned titanium assets across Ukraine in 2004. He also owns a chemicals plant. In May 2011 Firtash took over Nadra Bank (at the time Ukraine's 11th largest bank), Nadra Bank had gone into default in 2009 but it had restructured its foreign debt with significant write-offs since.
Firtash was elected chairman of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine
Federation of Employers of Ukraine
The Federation of Employers of Ukraine is a major interest organisation for business and industry in Ukraine.Dmytro Firtash was elected chairman on December 2, 2010....
, a joint representative agency of employers at national level, on December 2, 2010.
Controversy
Firtash is a controversial figure in Ukraine. According to documents uncovered during the United States diplomatic cables leakUnited States diplomatic cables leak
The United States diplomatic cables leak, widely known as Cablegate, began in February 2010 when WikiLeaks—a non-profit organization that publishes submissions from anonymous whistleblowers—began releasing classified cables that had been sent to the U.S. State Department by 274 of its consulates,...
Firtash told U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine
United States Ambassador to Ukraine
The history of Ambassadors of the United States to Ukraine began in 1992.Until 1991 the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic had been a constituent SSR of the Soviet Union. Upon the breakup of the USSR, the parliament of Ukraine declared the nation’s independence on August 24, 1991...
William Taylor
William B. Taylor, Jr.
William B. Taylor is an American diplomat and a former United States ambassador to Ukraine.-Diplomatic career:Until February 2006 he was the U.S. Government's representative to the Quartet's effort to facilitate the Israeli disengagement from Gaza and parts of the West Bank, led by Special Envoy...
of needing permission from alleged Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n crime boss Semyon Mogilevich to do business in Ukraine during the lawless 1990s. Firtash also claimed to be friends with President Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
. Firtash denied the remarks. Allegedly, Gazprom
Gazprom
Open Joint Stock Company Gazprom is the largest extractor of natural gas in the world and the largest Russian company. Its headquarters are in Cheryomushki District, South-Western Administrative Okrug, Moscow...
, a Russian natural-gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
extraction company, had asked Mogilevich to oversee natural-gas deliveries from Russia to Ukraine via gas intermediary RosUkrEnergo
RosUkrEnergo
RosUkrEnergo is a Swiss-registered venture company that transports natural gas from Turkmenistan to East European countries. 50% of the company is owned by Gazprom, through its daughter Swiss-registered Rosgas Holding A.G., and another 50% by Swiss-registered private company Centragas Holding A.G.,...
. All parties deny connections with Mogilevich. Other cables said Firtash and Mogilevich were linked through ostensible offshore company vehicles either by joint ownership through former spouses or through Firtash heading companies in which Mogilevich’s former spouse was the shareholder. It was also suspected that Raiffeisen Bank, an Austrian-based bank, was a front to legitimize RosUkrEnergo.
On June 16, 2009, Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko , née Grigyan , born 27 November 1960, is a Ukrainian politician. She was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 24 January to 8 September 2005, and again from 18 December 2007 to 4 March 2010. She placed third in Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful...
accused fellow candidates in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election, Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
, Arseniy Yatseniuk and Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
of having the same campaign headquarters financed by Firtash. On April 26, 2011 Tymoshenko suit Firtash and RosUkrEnergo in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
accusing them of "defrauding Ukraine's citizenry by manipulating an arbitration court ruling, "undermining the rule of law in Ukraine" in connection with an 2010 international arbitration court ruling in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
that ordered Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz to pay RosUkrEnergo 11 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural-gas to compensate for fuel it had "expropriated" plus 1.1 billion bcm as a penalty.
Allegedly Firtash and Ukrainian energy minister
Ministry of Fuel and Energy (Ukraine)
The Ministry of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine , in short Minpalyvenerho , is the main body in the system of central bodies of the executive power that provides realization of a state policy in electric power-generating, nuclear-industrial, and oil-gas complexes, often referred simply as the...
Yuriy Boiko "are close associates".
Social activities
In 2008, the University of CambridgeUniversity of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
was founded by Ukrainian program (Cambridge Ukrainian Studies). It's goal - promoting the study of Ukraine to the UK and abroad. During the 2008-2010 Ukrainian program operated in an experimental mode, and since 2010 - operates on an ongoing basis, thanks to donations from Dmitry Firtash in the amount of 4.3 million pounds.
In 2010, Firtash initiated the signing of a memorandum on strategic cooperation between the Group DF and NTU (KPI). In the framework of Group DF will facilitate the updating of teaching and research material resources of the University to accept students NTU "KPI" for passage of manufacturing practices, and to implement science and technology and innovation, developed in conjunction with the laboratories of the University.
In 2011, the University of Cambridge, with financial support from Dmitry Firtash, offers a master's program for students from Ukraine.
In 2011, Firtash made substantial donations to the Ukrainian Catholic University
Ukrainian Catholic University
The Ukrainian Catholic University is a Catholic university in Lviv, Ukraine, affiliated with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The ceremonial inauguration honoring its founding took place on June 29, 2002...
in Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
. Patriarch Kirill awarded Firtash in October 2011.
External links
- Group DF - Firtash's holding companyHolding companyA holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...