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Scoop of the day: Pandora Papers reveal Zelenskyy's offshore holdings

Scoop of the day: Pandora Papers reveal Zelenskyy's offshore holdings

Pandora Papers

Commenting on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's mention in the latest Pandora Papers investigation, an adviser to his office's head, Mykhaylo Podolyak, explained the use of offshore companies by "the peculiarities of the market of those times". He insists that the president follows all requirements of the anti-corruption legislation to the dot.

According to the key findings of the investigation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his partners in comedy production owned a network of offshore companies related to their business based in the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, and Belize. Around the time of his 2019 election, Zelenskyy handed his shares in a key offshore company over to Shefir, but the two appear to have made an arrangement for Zelensky’s family to continue receiving money from the offshore.

Clouds over speaker

Speaker Dmytro Razumkov has launched a procedure that may eventually lead to his dismissal. He explained on Telegram that he did so on the request of pro-presidential MP Davyd Arakhamiya who presented a relevant motion signed by 175 MPs.

Razumkov called an extraordinary session for 7 October to discuss pensions and social support, his press secretary Olha Tuniy has said.

Georgia

The Ukrainian consul has visited Georgian ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili in a remand entre in Rustavi, Georgia, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko has said. Saakashvili is in satisfactory condition and did not complain about his detention conditions.

Giorgi Zakarashvili has been appointed Georgia's ambassador to Ukraine.

Foreign policy

Foreign ambassadors in Ukraine "enjoy a luxury that Ukrainian ambassadors in their countries are deprived of", Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

This is also something that needs to be changed. This is our internal problem because we have created it ourselves," Kuleba said, describing foreign ambassadors, especially G7 envoys, as "excellent people" whose assistance to Ukraine he appreciates.

Security

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained a suspected Donetsk militant in a Kyiv hostel. He was a member of the separatist unit Oplot, later an intelligence unit and took part in killing wounded Ukrainian soldiers.

The SBU has detained a 25-year-old Ukrainian hacker who extorted money from over 100 foreign companies by using ransomware, having caused the damage reaching 150m dollars. The arrest happened as a result of an international operation, involving Interpol, Europol, French and US law enforcers.

Incident

A fire in a Bila Tserkva hospital in the early hours of 4 October claimed the life of one patient. She died after she was carted out of the burning ward.

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