Interpipe eyes negotiation with the government

Interpipe eyes negotiation with the government

Following the court's verdict to return Ukraine's largest steel plant Kyrvorizhstahl to its owners Viktor Pinchuk and Rinat Akhmedov; Pinchuk, Ukraine's former president Leonid Kuchma's brother-in-law, is looking for ways to negotiate with the government not only for this plant but also for Interpipe. Pinchuk also owns Ukraine's largest steel and pipe group Interpipe. Interpipe is the only Ukrainian group permitted to export pipes to Russia and the governmet of Ukraine wants to cancel its privatisation, too. The Prosecutor General's Office had recently launced a lawsuit, demanding the cancellation of Interpipe Group's Nikokol factory privatization. Yesterday (May 04, 2005), Interpipe appealed for talks with the government regarding the investigations on privatization deals conducted under former President Leonid Kuchma's regime. Maksim Basov, the deputy chairman of Interpipe Corp. said the company could prove it had acted according to Ukraine's laws when it was privatized under former President Leonid Kuchma.