General Prosecutor's office raided the main office of agro-industrial holding "Astarta"

Today, on September 6, the search initiated by the General Prosecutor of Ukraine was carried out at the main office of the company "Astarta-Kiev" with the participation of the armed guards and the violation of procedural rules. For hours the employees could not get to their jobs, the work of enterprises was blocked. In addition, separate accounts of the several production divisions included into the structure of the company are now blocked.

We consider these actions of the security authorities as excessive and unreasonable. Corporate management of "Astarta" enterprises meets all the principles of transparency. The company today, as always, works constructively with regulatory authorities regarding the provision of evidence, explanation, and documentation. Therefore, the use of "force" scenario is completely unreasonable; it looks like incompetence, or the obvious pressure on the business.

"Astarta" is a public international company, having shares since 2006 with a listing on the Warsaw stock exchange. Among the shareholders there are a number of well-known international investment funds that trust management and believe in the growth of our economy, despite the difficult times. "Astarta" also enjoys the confidence and support of international banks, including EBRD and IFC that have been financing new projects of the company for many years. In general, over the last 10 years, "Astarta" has invested more than $ 400 million in the development of the sugar and agro-industrial business in our country.

Now all production processes at the enterprises of the company are carried out in a normal way. We expect that in a few days all temporary restrictions will be removed and we take measures to avoid such, in our view, excessive actions by regulatory agencies in the future. We are convinced that this will not prevent us from achieving high targets at the crucial period of sugar refining and autumn field campaign.

The actions of the security authorities, which took place today, are the first precedent in the nearly 25-year history of the company. In our opinion, these cases negatively affect the investment climate in the country, undermine the confidence of investors. The management of LLC firm "Astarta-Kiev" appealed to the General Prosecutor's office and the leadership of the country about the inadmissibility of power pressure on business and is going to appeal against illegal actions in accordance with the law.