Andriy Portnov, Ukrainian banks and future Olympics in Carpathians
Ukrainian courts ordered Business Censor to retract a statement from one of our publications that referred to Andriy Portnov as a judicial reformer during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych. And to compensate him approximately UAH 145,000 in litigation costs from his lawsuit against us. As Business Censor has found, despite high-profile statements by law enforcement agencies in previous years and multiple criminal proceedings that had been opened, Portnov has never been formally served with a notice of suspicion. However, we were not able to transfer the funds pursuant to the court ruling immediately. One of the largest banks in Ukraine refused to process the payment to Portnov.
Yevheniy Murayev and Andriy Portnov / Photo: Facebook yevgeniy.murayev
Business Censor's litigation with Portnov
In August 2023, Business Censor journalists Olha Prokopyshyna and Yurii Vynnychuk met with Oleksandr Novikov, Head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP).
The discussion focused on the operation of the new registries of corrupt officials and war sponsors, which at the time were administered by the NACP. We specifically asked Oleksandr Novikov about the relevance of applying personal sanctions to individuals who are citizens of Ukraine, and in this context, mentioned Andriy Portnov — a figure involved in judicial reform under President Yanukovych, former Deputy Head of his Presidential Administration, and since 2021, subject to U.S. sanctions list.
Novikov explained that the NACP had largely relied on the recommendations of the International Sanctions Group — the so-called Yermak–McFaul Group — which focused primarily on Russian and Belarusian nationals as candidates for sanctions.
"We believe that imposing sanctions on Ukrainian citizens reflects the failure of the entire system of state authority to bring them to criminal responsibility. The law enforcement system must function, and there must be criminal accountability," Novikov said at the time.
In September 2023, Andriy Portnov — mentioned in the earlier question regarding personal sanctions — filed a lawsuit against the authors of the article. In recent years, he has repeatedly filed defamation lawsuits from abroad against a number of Ukrainian media outlets and civil society organizations, seeking to defend his honor and business reputation.
He is currently pursuing legal action against the civil society organization Statewatch, which in 2023 published a study identifying prominent pro-Russian figures in Ukraine who, according to the organization, have faced no sanctions domestically. Andriy Portnov was listed among them. The Statewatch report was published by online outlets The Kyiv Independent and LB.ua, both of which Portnov also sued, demanding retractions of references to him as a "pro-Russian politician."
Portnov is also pursuing ongoing lawsuits against the civil society organization Chesno Movement and the National Agency on Corruption Prevention. In June 2022, Portnov was included in the Register of State Traitors, compiled by the Chesno Movement in cooperation with the NACP. He initiated legal proceedings on February 15, 2024, challenging both his inclusion in the register and specific statements made about him.
Separately, Andriy Portnov has filed lawsuits against Censor.NET editor-in-chief Yurii Butusov, the Hromadske television channel, the Kyiv bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and the investigative journalism project Schemes.
He has also filed a lawsuit against the civil society organization Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC), which in 2021 was involved in efforts to advocate for the imposition of U.S. sanctions against him. According to the Anti-Corruption Action Center, one case filed by Andriy Portnov is currently under cassation review, in which he is contesting the use of the term "pro-Russian" in reference to himself.
"From a legal standpoint, Portnov’s numerous lawsuits against media outlets that criticize him appear to constitute SLAPPs — strategic lawsuits against public participation — as they are intended to discourage journalists from reporting on Portnov and his influence. Such lawsuits pose a serious threat to freedom of expression because they create a "chilling effect" on journalists and the media. This is especially dangerous in wartime, as journalists investigate both corruption and war crimes — and the public has the right to access such information," said media lawyer Liudmyla Pankratova in a comment to Detector Media.
Who is Andriy Portnov?
Andriy Portnov is perhaps best known as the chief legal officer and judicial reformer during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych. In 2010, Yanukovych appointed Portnov head of the Main Directorate for Judicial Reform and the Judiciary.
Portnov himself was a member of the High Council of Justice, to which he was elected in 2009 under the quota allocated to higher legal education institutions.
On January 24, 2014, Viktor Yanukovych appointed Portnov First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration. In late February 2014, nearly simultaneously with Yanukovych, Andriy Portnov left Ukraine.
He returned only after Volodymyr Zelenskyy won the presidential election in 2019, arriving just days before Zelenskyy’s official inauguration. He left Ukraine again during the full-scale war — in the summer of 2022 — and is currently residing abroad.
Criminal cases
In 2014, after Andriy Portnov left Ukraine along with other top officials from Viktor Yanukovych’s inner circle, law enforcement agencies began making high-profile statements about him.
In January 2015, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine declared Portnov wanted under Part 3 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (misappropriation or embezzlement of property, or obtaining it through abuse of office, committed repeatedly or by a group of persons by prior conspiracy). However, in November that same year, Portnov announced that Kyiv’s Pecherskyi District Court had ordered investigators to cancel the search, citing the establishment of his whereabouts.
In March 2014, Portnov was included on a list of eighteen individuals close to Viktor Yanukovych who were targeted with personal sanctions by the EU Council.
A year later, these sanctions were lifted because the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine did not provide any evidence against him.
Subsequently, in November 2015, the Luxembourg court ruled in favor of Portnov in his lawsuit against Ukraine, declaring the sanctions unlawful.
In March 2014, criminal proceedings were also initiated against Portnov on allegations of threats against People`s Deputies, as well as over the alleged embezzlement of funds from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and Kyiv National Economic University—amounting to UAH 137,600—and the misappropriation of UAH 26 million in payouts and forgery of decision of the 3rd All-Ukrainian Congress of Representatives of Legal Higher Education Institutions and Research Institutions, which had appointed three members to the High Council of Justice.
Portnov was represented in court by his attorney, Oleh Tatarov, who is now Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
During Yanukovych presidency, Tatarov held the position of Deputy Head of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and regularly commented to the media on the events of the Maidan.
According to the Schemes project, at the height of the Revolution of Dignity, Tatarov was awarded the title of "Honored Lawyer of Ukraine" by Viktor Yanukovych, based on a personal submission by then-Interior Minister Vitalii Zakharchenko. The reason cited was "the implementation of decisions of the President, Verkhovna Rada, and Cabinet of Ministers, by directing subordinates to strengthen the fight against crime and reinforce public order."
Fragments of court rulings in several criminal proceedings where Oleh Tatarov represented Portnov as his defense attorney can still be found in the State Register of Court Decisions. In some of these cases, the pre-trial investigation lasted for over five years and ended without any outcome.
Between 2015 and 2018, based on these criminal proceedings, the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada sent official letters to Canadian government agencies, referencing the Prosecutor’s Office and informing them of the ongoing investigation into Andriy Portnov. Relying on this information, the Canadian government included Portnov in its sanctions lists (under the Freezing Assets of Corrupt Foreign Officials (Ukraine) Regulations, SOR/2014-44.)
One of the proceedings in which Tatarov acted as Portnov’s defense attorney concerned Portnov’s possible receipt of unlawful benefits.
The case from November 2017 was initially investigated by the Prosecutor General’s Office, then by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, and later again by the prosecution. As of February 2019, it remained at the pre-trial investigation stage. According to the text of a court ruling, neither an investigator nor a prosecutor had been assigned to the case. Moreover, the "actual location of the case materials" in the proceedings against Portnov was unknown.
In 2019, following the election of Volodymyr Zelenskyy as President of Ukraine, reports emerged of the Prosecutor General’s Office requesting that the Canadian government lift sanctions against Portnov.
Andriy Portnov was officially removed from the Canadian sanctions lists in March 2024.
In 2017, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau opened a criminal case against Portnov on charges of illicit enrichment in the amount of UAH 26 million during the period from July 2011 to December 2013.
The case was closed in March 2019 following a Constitutional Court decision to repeal the provision on illicit enrichment. This repeal came in response to an appeal submitted by the People`s Deputies.
In 2018, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) opened a criminal investigation against Andriy Portnov on suspicion of state treason. The grounds for the case included an audio recording of a phone conversation between Sergei Glazyev, an advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, and a person identified as "Vladimir Andreevich." Although Ukrainian prosecutors were unable to confirm the identity of the latter, the voice allegedly closely resembled that of Vladimir Konstantinov — a collaborator who, at the time of Crimea’s annexation, was the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and a member of the Party of Regions. After the occupation of the peninsula, he became head of the so-called "State Council of the Republic of Crimea" and one of the regional leaders of the United Russia party in Crimea. During the call, Sergei Glazyev stated that the Crimean parliament should adopt a resolution allegedly drafted by Andriy Portnov, so that "it would be clear that not all of Ukraine is so eager to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union."
In response to a request from Business Censor regarding the status of the case, the SSU stated only that it had been closed in August 2019 and that "the ruling to close the case has not been overturned by the procedural supervisor."
In his lawsuit against us, Portnov asserts that he "holds a clear and principled position on the war in Ukraine, believing that the president of the Russian Federation, Russian officials, Russian troops, and Russian citizens have committed and continue to commit horrific war crimes against our state and the citizens of Ukraine."
Business Censor was unable to find any such statement by Portnov on his social media pages or in the press. There has been no public condemnation of the actions of the Russian Federation or its president, Vladimir Putin. This is despite the fact that Portnov had been highly active in the public sphere, particularly at the beginning of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presidency.
Immediately after returning to Ukraine, Portnov gave an interview to Strana.ua — a pro-Russian outlet banned in Ukraine — in which he stated that his "large legal team" would be filing "criminal complaints" against former President Petro Poroshenko and his inner circle, and would seek the seizure of Poroshenko’s assets.
Around the same time, in an interview with Viktor Medvedchuk’s TV channel 112 Ukraine, Portnov stated that he had no ties with Yanukovych and believed that the fugitive president should be held accountable for his inaction and the inadequate response by law enforcement during the crackdown on protesters at Maidan.
A year later, in a second interview with Strana.ua (both interviews were downloaded by Business Censor), Portnov stated that the Poroshenko issue was now of "fifth" priority, while the "first" — that is, the main priority — was the "deheroization" and "demythologization" of Maidan (editor’s note: referring to the events of the Revolution of Dignity).
"The President (editor’s note: Zelenskyy) never once uttered the word ‘Maidan’ during his campaign. By doing so, he signaled to the East and Southeast that he intended to be fair. Once elected, he stayed silent for several months, then began walking around Maidan with votive candles," Portnov said, criticizing Zelenskyy’s policy during the interview.
At the same time, Portnov’s legal team, according to him, was defending law enforcement officers who "took part in the events at Maidan" in court.
"Take note — none of the police officers from back then are in prison today," Portnov told Strana.ua in 2020.
From the content of the interview, it can also be inferred that Andriy Portnov was concerned about the celebration of May 9 and the content of Ukrainian history textbooks.
He described how he filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Education demanding the removal of "any references to the so-called Revolution" from Ukrainian school textbooks for grades 5 through 11. As a result, the Kyiv District Administrative Court ruled in favor of Andriy Portnov, ordering a revision of the section concerning the Revolution of Dignity.
Portnov also secured a court ruling that prohibited the commemoration of the anniversaries of several historical Ukrainian figures, including writer Ulas Samchuk, whose works "Mariia" and "Volyn "remain excluded from the mandatory school curriculum despite numerous appeals by activists to the Ministry of Education.
Portnov’s lawsuit against Business Censor
Andriy Portnov asked the Darnytskyi District Court of Kyiv to compel Business Censor to retract a reference to him in our publication, and to order the authors to pay UAH 40,000 in court fees.
Represented by attorney Oleh Horbachov, Business Censor argued that its statement about Portnov constituted a value judgment, secondary to the overall context of the interview’s subject matter.
According to the Darnytskyi District Court, we could only characterize Portnov in the context of sanctions if there were a criminal conviction against him. Portnov submitted documents to the court confirming that no active criminal proceedings had been opened against him. The court ruled in his favor.
"The dissemination of false information negatively affects the reputation and authority of the plaintiff, who is a practicing attorney, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine, holds a Doctor of Laws degree and a PhD in Economics, previously served as a People`s Deputy of the 5th and 6th convocations, a member of the High Council of Justice, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration for judicial reform and court system matters, and a member of the academic councils of state higher education institutions — all of which attests to his extensive experience in both political and legal spheres," the court ruling states.
Business Censor filed an appeal. However, the Kyiv Court of Appeal, presided over by Judge Svitlana Kuliкова, upheld the ruling of the Darnytskyi District Court without changes.
After paying UAH 41,000 in court fees, we appealed to the Supreme Court. In October 2024, Judge Yevhen Synelnykov referred the case back to the appellate court for a new review, emphasizing the need for a "comprehensive assessment" of the statement about Portnov, taking into account the overall content of the publication, its public significance under martial law, and heightened public interest in the activities of public figures who "may have pursued pro-Russian policies."
During the new hearing, judges Onishchuk M.I., Shebuieva V.A., Kafidova O.V. also stressed that there were no criminal proceedings against Portnov in Ukraine, which was confirmed by letters from law enforcement agencies - the SSU, the National Police and the Office of the Prosecutor General.
As an argument in Portnov’s favor during our court proceedings, the court even cited an online petition by journalist Yaroslava Volvach, who in January of this year proposed that the government impose personal sanctions on Andriy Portnov. The petition received the required 25,000 signatures, but it did not gain support within the Cabinet of Ministers — more precisely, the Cabinet stated there were no grounds for imposing sanctions against Andriy Portnov, again citing the absence of any issues concerning him on the part of law enforcement agencies.
Ultimately, the Kyiv Court of Appeal once again ruled in favor of Andriy Portnov, ordering us to pay UAH 104,000 as compensation for legal services provided by his attorney Hanna Kosinova, as well as for expenses related to the second appellate review — including the cost of a court-ordered psychological and linguistic expert examination (which alone cost us approximately UAH 42,000).
Portnov and Ukrainian banks
In total, Portnov’s lawsuit seeking to defend his honor, dignity, and business reputation cost our editorial office roughly UAH 145,000. And that’s when I ran into a problem while trying to pay part of the amount we were obligated to transfer under the court ruling. PrivatBank, where I hold my accounts, refused to process the payment to Andriy Portnov’s personal account without providing any explanation. I was only able to make the payment in cash, through the teller at another bank — in my case, Bank Pivdennyi.
Not everything was smooth between Portnov and other Ukrainian banks either.
In May 2023, Andriy Portnov filed a lawsuit against OTP Bank after the bank unilaterally terminated his banking services. During the court hearings, the OTP bank representative stated that, under the terms of the Agreement on the Issuance and Servicing of Payment Cards, the bank has the right to terminate the agreement early or suspend its validity without providing a reason.
The Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv took a different view. A representative of Portnov filed a claim requesting that the bank be prohibited from discontinuing his banking services — in particular, access to internet banking and contactless payment services.
The court decision states that "the bank has the right to request termination of the agreement through judicial procedure."
Both the Pecherskyi District Court and the Kyiv Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Portnov. OTP Bank filed a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court but later withdrew it voluntarily.
Portnov also initiated legal proceedings against Oschadbank in early 2023. The dispute arose after the bank refused to process a UAH 200,000 transfer from Portnov’s account at OTP Bank to the charitable foundation "Borzhavska Nadiia," which held an account with Oschadbank.
During the court hearings, the state-owned bank did not conceal the reason for its refusal: Portnov was listed on U.S. sanctions lists.
Both the Pecherskyi District Court and the Kyiv Court of Appeal declared Oschadbank’s actions unlawful. The Supreme Court likewise referred the case back for retrial. After completing another round of proceedings, Oschadbank, like OTP Bank, withdrew from further legal action against Portnov.
The Olympic dream of Yanukovych and Zelenskyy
In October 2022, Portnov attempted to transfer UAH 200,000 to the charitable foundation "Borzhavska Nadiia" to support children deprived of parental care, according to the court ruling.
The sole owner of this charitable foundation is Carpathian Mountain Resorts–Borzhava LLC, whose sole shareholder is Austrian citizen Gernot Leitner — an entrepreneur and architect, and the founder of the Masterconcept group of companies.
According to the Russian-language version of Masterconcept`s website, the company specializes in designing sports and recreational infrastructure, including ski resorts.
The company was involved in the preparation of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, which took place shortly before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014, (benefited from 30 contracts). It also participated in preparations for the 2018 FIFA World Cup held in Russia, contributing to the development of infrastructure in Samara, Saransk, Sochi, Kaliningrad, and Volgograd.
Leitner’s company has three main offices — in Vienna, St. Petersburg, and Beijing.
As of this week, the Russian-language version of the company’s website was no longer accessible. However, screenshots taken last week remain available.
Masterconcept’s completed sports infrastructure projects in Russia can still be found on LinkedIn, along with a list of the company’s core team.
During the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych, the company was expected to implement the "Olympic Hope" project — to build sports infrastructure, including ski facilities, in Zakarpattia for a potential bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in Ukraine.
The infrastructure was never built. However, firms linked to Vladyslav Kaskiv, then head of the State Agency for Investment and National Projects, acquired 495 land plots with a total area of 450 hectares in the Borzhava area of Zakarpattia — where the Olympic complex was supposed to be located — using UAH 165 million allocated by the state for the project. The land was transferred into private ownership.
The project ultimately led to criminal investigations into the misappropriation of UAH 165 million, which had been issued as a long-term loan to Borzhava Resort LLC and used to purchase land plots by entities close to Kaskiv. Borzhava Resort was also named in a separate case involving the embezzlement of nearly UAH 2 billion, which had been allocated from the state budget in 2012–2013 and invested by the People’s Republic of China for the implementation of Ukraine’s National Projects.
Following the launch of criminal proceedings, Kaskiv left Ukraine and was later located in Panama, from where he was reportedly extradited back to his home country. In Ukraine, he was represented in court by Oleh Tatarov — currently Deputy Head of the Presidential Office. The case involving Olympic-related funds ended with a suspended sentence for Kaskiv. He currently serves as a deputy of the Zakarpattia Regional Military Administration.
It is worth noting that prior to the full-scale invasion, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi also appeared to support the idea of hosting the Olympic Games in the Carpathians. In the summer of 2020, the head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, personally met with the same Austrian businessman, Gernot Leitner — who had been involved in developing sports infrastructure in Russia — to discuss the terms of a memorandum on creating the "Borzhava" cluster.
A photo and report from the meeting with Leitner can still be found on the official website of the President of Ukraine. Several Ukrainian ministers were present at the meeting with the Austrian businessman. In particular, then-Minister of Economic Development, Trade, and Agriculture Ihor Petrashko expressed support for the project. He proposed involving public-private partnership mechanisms and the so-called "investment nanny" program.
In the fall of 2024, Davyd Arakhamiia, head of the Servant of the People faction, visited Zakarpattia, accompanied by Vladyslav Kaskiv "to inspect the Borzhava ski resort project."
It appears that these old–new projects in Zakarpattia are already in the restart phase — simply waiting for their time.
