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The head of Ukraine's privatisation agency, who the government wants to fire, said on Monday planned sell-offs this year worth potentially billions of dollars should be suspended. Valentyna Semenyuk said the near-monopoly positions of the Odessa Port chemical plant, telecoms company Ukrtelekom and some energy firms required the introduction of new privatisation rules before any auctions take place. "The fund will soon take appropriate measures, taking into account the conclusions of the anti-monopoly committee," Semenyuk said in a statement. She was referring to a report by the committee asking for new rules to tighten anti-trust practice. Semenyuk's position at the agency hangs in the balance. She was sacked by the government earlier this year, but immediately reinstated by President Viktor Yushchenko on grounds that the decision needed parliament's approval.
Parliament was then brought to a virtual standstill for a month over a blockade by opposition politicians denouncing the authorities' long-term plans to join NATO. Attempts to vote on the issue once work resumed have been delayed. The government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has criticised previous privatisation deals as shady and called for clean, open auctions, has a slender majority in parliament. Government officials have said Ukrtelekom could fetch $7 billion and the Odessa Port chemicals plant another $1 billion, which would far exceed budgeted privatisation revenues of $1.6 billion.
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Odessa Port chemical plant not for sale?
