Serhiy Klyuyev

Serhiy Petrovych Klyuyev (also spelled: Sergiy Klyuyev; Ukrainian: Сергій Петрович Клюєв) is a Ukrainian businessman and a member of the Ukrainian Parliament[1] of V-VIII convocations.

Serhiy Klyuyev

Serhiy Klyuyev was born on August 19, 1969 in Donetsk (Soviet Union). He is the brother of another politician Andriy Klyuyev.[2] In June 2006 experts estimated the joint assets of the Klyuyev brothers to be $144 million.[2]

Political career

2002–2005 Deputy Chairman of the Donetsk Regional State Administration[1] 2006 Member of the Parliament of the 5th legislation period as a member of the Party of Regions[1] (N 62 on the list)
since April 2006 Member of the Permanent Parliamentary Delegation to PACE
2007 Member of the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine
Chairman of the Austria-Ukraine Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group
Chairman of the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Banking and Foreign Currency Policy
Member of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance and Banking
Member of the Ukraine-Azerbaijan and Ukraine-Japan Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Groups.

In 2012 he was re-elected into parliament on the party list of Party of Regions.[3] Since November 2012 Member of the Ukraine–Austria Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Groups. Chairman of the Ukraine-China and Ukraine-USA Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group.

On January 16, 2014 voted for the laws that conflict with Constitution of Ukraine, Convention about the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, obligations and duties of Ukraine as a member of the UNO, CE and OSCE.[4]

In the October 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Klyuyev was again re-elected into parliament; this time as a non-partisan candidate after winning a single-member districts seat in Artemivsk with 47.47% of the votes.[5] Since November 2014 Member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety. Member of the Ukraine–Austria, Ukraine–China and Ukraine-USA Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Groups.

Klyuyev did not take part in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[6]

Criminal prosecution

In February 2014 the Office of the State Prosecutor in Vienna opened the criminal proceeding against the Klyuyevs and their associates.

Thus, on 11 December 2014 the High Court of Vienna issued decision where it found that the initial suspicion has not been substantiated. The argumentation is exclusively based up on reports of suspected money laundering, the Ukrainian Letter of Request, media reports, and the results of proceedings that were terminated; but there are no concrete indications [7]

On 3 June 2015 parliament stripped his prosecutorial immunity rights.[8] At that time Ukrainian state prosecutors were prepared to bring criminal proceedings against him for fraud and embezzlement of budget funds.[8][9] Klyuyev himself has stated his immunity was lifted due to "political pressure".[8]

During 22 days of consideration of the Motion of the GPO, 3 official meetings of the Committee Committee on the Rules of Procedure and Organization of Work were held with participation of all members of the Committee, working groups with involvement of MPs and most of personnel of the Secretariat of the Committee.

On 21.05.2015 the Committee formally requested answers to 82 questions related to the lifting of MP Klyuyev's immunity.[10] Brief explanations were given on only 11 questions, 71 question remained without any response.

On 28.05.2015 a meeting of the Committee of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the Rules of Procedure and Organization of Work were held. Under the pressure of GPO the Committee session was continued on 29.05.2015 behind closed-doors with participation of GPO's representative.[11][12] Wherein, neither mass-media representatives, nor stenography personnel of the secretary of the Committee were permitted entry to this meeting. Both Klyuyev and his attorney were denied participation in this meeting and these actions violated the constitutional rights of defense of Klyuyev.

Despite the pressure of the GPO, the Committee decided that the motion did not have sufficient grounds, as the evidence provided could not be deemed sufficient; it is impossible to conclude the lawfulness of the collection of the evidence mentioned in the Motion, as the General Prosecutor of Ukraine has not provided the respective materials requested by the Committee, which would confirm otherwise.[13] In compliance with Paragraph 4 of Article 220 of the Rules of Procedure of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Chairman of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine must return the Motion to the GPO in the absence of sufficient evidence to justify the Motion. For the first time in the history of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine a precedent was established when a motion was not returned to the General Prosecutor Office of Ukraine.[14]

On 2.06.2015, under political pressure, a Meeting of the Committee of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the Rules of Procedure and Organization of Work were held.[15] Despite unprecedented extremely high political pressure on the members of the Committee, according to the Decision of the Committee dated 02.06.2015, the grounds of the motion were not deemed sufficient and the lawfulness of the evidence was not confirmed by the Committee. Not a single new evidence or argument was presented by the GPO and the Decision of the Committee dated 02.06.2015 was driven only by desire to adopt “more comfortable decision for the Chairman of the Parliament Groysman V.B.”.[16] Therefore, the decision of the Committee still contains recommendation to return the motion back to the GPO, which was due pursuant to part 4 of the Article 220 of the Rules of Procedure.[17] On 03.06.15, despite on the lack of sufficient evidence[18], parliament stripped his prosecutorial immunity rights. The immunity lifting activities lack lawful grounding and are completely politically motivated. Furthermore, the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv instructed the GPO to launch a criminal investigation (No. 42015000000001607) dated 24.07.2015 on the illegal influencing of Committee members. The GPO was obliged to conduct an investigation examining illegal coercion activities performed by: V.B. Groysman (Chairman of the Parliament), A.V. Parubiy (First Deputy Chairman of the Parliament), O.V. Lyashko (Coalition Coordinator), Y.V. Tymoshenko (Member of Parliament), E.B. Sobolev (Member of Parliament), and other.[19][20]

28 January 2016, the General Court of the EU has annulled the financial sanctions imposed upon Ukrainian Member of Parliament Serhiy Klyuyev by the Council of the EU.[21]

In March 2016 the criminal proceeding in Austria was discontinued. The Reasons of discontinuance of the criminal proceeding against Sergiy Klyuyev and his brother, issued by Public Prosecutor's Office in the Republic of Austria by dated 4 April 2016 explicitly states that the investigation results now transmitted from Ukraine were neither conducive to continue the proceeding [in Austria], nor to substantiate a satisfactory suspicion of the offence committed at an earlier date (p. 247 Decision EU). In December 2016, Head of PGO's Main Investigative Unit Mr. Horbatuk stated to Ukrainian media: “this is the case with Austria, where the arrest of Klyuyev’s money was refused - they cited alleged political persecution by Ukraine. In our opinion, these allegations are groundless.”[22]

21 February 2018, the European Court of Justice has ruled on the illegality of the last wave of sanctions imposed by the EU Council in 2017 on Serhiy Klyuyev. In its decision, the court noted that the European Council, introducing sanctions, should have checked grounds for accusations against those named and if there were grounds for "doubting the authenticity of evidence," which Ukraine provide the EU.[23]

5 March 2018, the Council of the European Union lifts sanctions from MP Serhiy Klyuyev. According to Council Decision (CFSP)2018/333 of 5 March 2018 all 28th European Union member Countries remove the sanctions from MP Sergiy Klyuyev as well.[24] 16 March 2018, HM Treasury of the UK and the Government of Liechtenstein also excluded Sergiy Klyuyev from their asset freeze lists. According to Press Release # 172/18 of 26 March 2018 the Candidate Countries Montenegro and Albania, the EFTA country Norway, member of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, align themselves with this Decision and lift the sanctions from MP Sergiy Klyuyev.[25]

Professional career

1992–1994 Commercial Director of Trade House Pidshipnik Ltd.,[1] a joint-venture company
1994–2000 Vice-president, Chairman of the Ukrpidshipnik Supervisory Board
2000–2002 & 2005–2006 CEO of the Ukrpidshipnik Group[1]
1997–2002 & 06.2005 – 09.2005 Member of the Board of Directors of Slav AG Company, Vienna (Austria)[1]

Klyuyev and his brother Andriy Klyuyev sold Active Bank in March 2013.[26]

Education

In 1987 – 92 Serhiy Klyuyev studied at the Donetsk National Technical University (Donetsk Politechnic Institute). Upon graduation he received Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering (the same specialization as his brother).[1] He is an author and a holder of some 39 patents in the field of non-ferrous metallurgy, cable production and electric engineering.

Personal life

Klyuyev is married to Iryna (born 1964) and has a daughter named Olha and a son named Andriy (1992).[1]

References

1. (in Russian) Клюев Сергей Петрович, Информационно-аналитический центр "ЛІГА"
2. (in Russian) Клюев Андрей Петрович, Информационно-аналитический центр "ЛІГА"
3. (in Ukrainian) Список депутатів нової Верховної Ради, Ukrayinska Pravda (11 November 2012)
4. Results of roll-call for the project of Law on making alteration in Law of Ukraine "On the judicial system and status of judges" and judicial laws in relation to the additional measures of defence of safety of citizens(№3879) - for basis and on the whole Archived 2014-01-20 at the Wayback Machine
5. (in Ukrainian) Candidates and winner for the seat in constituency 46 in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Archived 2014-12-19 at the Wayback Machine, RBK Ukraine
6. Small biography on Serhiy Klyuyev, Civil movement "Chesno" (in Ukrainian)
7. ЄС зняв санкції з депутата ВР Сергія Клюєва
8. Ukraine starts criminal case against ally of deposed Yanukovich, Reuters (3 June 2015)
9. Ukrainian Parliament strips two MP's of their immunity from prosecution, Ukraine Today (3 June 2015)
10. Регламентный комитет ВР просит ГПУ предоставить дополнительные доказательства вины Клюева
11. Шокин настаивает на закрытом заседании комитета ВР без участия Клюева
12. Регламентный комитет ВР отказался рассматривать представления о снятии неприкосновенности с Клюева и Мельничука в закрытом режиме
13. Решение Регламентного комитета от 29.05.2015
14. Депутаты признали обвинения Генпрокуратуры С.Клюева необоснованными
15. Пинзеник отказался вести заседание регламентного комитета по Клюеву и Мельничуку
17. Решение Регламентного комитета от 02.06.2015 Archived 2016-01-30 at the Wayback Machine
18. Video metings of the Committee
19. Ответ ГПУ на решение Суда
20. Решение Суда
21. Court deals new blow to EU on Ukraine sanctions
22. Австрия отказалась арестовать средства Клюева из-за якобы политического преследования – Горбатюк
23. court lifts sanctions from MP Serhiy Kliuyev
24. DECISION (CFSP) 2018/333 of 5 March 2018
25. by the High Representative on behalf of the EU on the alignment of certain third countries concerning restrictive measures directed against certain persons, entities and bodies in view of the situation in Ukraine
26. (in Ukrainian) Брати Клюєви вийшли з банківського бізнесу Brothers Klyuyev out of the banking business, Ukrayinska Pravda (11 March 2013)