Rabinovich: There Are Many Young Oligarchs Close to the Prime Minister Who Don’t Talk About Their Incomes

Rabinovich: There Are Many Young Oligarchs Close to the Prime Minister Who Don’t Talk About Their Incomes

You shouldn’t be afraid of oligarchs; you should use them, believes the chairman of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress, leader of the Center party, and People’s Deputy from the Opposition Bloc, Vadim Rabinovich.

There are many young oligarchs close to the prime minister who say little about their incomes, People’s Deputy from the Opposition Bloc Vadim Rabinovich told GORDON in a comment.

“Big businessmen have stepped back now; there are a lot of young oligarchs. These are people who are mainly connected to the prime minister and to actual cash flows. Today they sit on those flows, but having studied the experience of their predecessors, they sit quietly—that is, they earn no less, but they are less willing to blab about it,” he said.

According to Rabinovich, Ukrainian oligarchs today try to renounce that title.

“There is no single most influential Ukrainian oligarch today. Now all oligarchs try to give up that name-title and quickly turn their backs. Kolomoisky and Firtash have a lot of problems, which is untypical for successful oligarchs,” the deputy said.

He believes that Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko cannot be called the country’s main oligarch.

“Those who call Poroshenko an oligarch are talking nonsense. Poroshenko is the president. And although, in essence, in our oligarchic country any president is the main oligarch, you still can’t say that about him, because today there is no monopoly of power like there was under Yanukovych,” Rabinovich said.

The deputy said oligarchs should not be feared but used.

“In general, we call simply rich people ‘oligarchs,’ although in reality it’s a person who uses their money through political and other influences for their own benefit. And today absolutely everyone does that. Even a postman is a kind of oligarch because he tries to exert influence. That’s our system. You shouldn’t be afraid of oligarchs; you should use them,” Rabinovich said.

26 March the publication Forbes Ukraine published a ranking of the richest Ukrainians. It was topped by businessman Rinat Akhmetov with a fortune of $6,9 billion. In second place is businessman Viktor Pinchuk with $1,5 billion. Ihor Kolomoisky’s fortune was estimated at $1,4 billion.

In fourth place is co-owner of PrivatBank Hennadiy Boholiubov with $1,3 billion.

Rounding out the top five is First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Yuriy Kosiuk with $1,1 billion.

Also in the top ten are People’s Deputy from the Party of Regions Vadym Novynskyi ($790 million), former owner of FC Metalist Oleksandr Yaroslavskyi ($774 million), President Petro Poroshenko ($750 million), independent People’s Deputy Konstantin Zhevago ($735 million). Closing out the ten is former People’s Deputy Serhiy Tihipko ($686 million).

gordonua.com