"We hope for a dialogue with the government, but we are ready to defend our position in court" - Parimatch

Exclusive interview with Maxym Liashko, managing partner of Energame (asset management company of the Parimatch group of companies).

-- Two months have passed since the company was included in the sanctions list and you announced the blocking of around UAH 250 million in customer accounts. Has the amount changed? What are the prospects for your clients to receive this money?

-- The amount has not changed; not a single hryvnia has been credited after the sanctions. The funds are available, blocked in the settlement accounts of the company that fell under sanctions. There are also funds blocked by financial monitoring of banks. They have not even been credited to the company's personal accounts yet, but they do exist and are blocked. They were in the process of processing bank payments and accumulated in the settlement accounts of the banks.

These funds are absolutely sufficient to settle with our clients. We have approached the Commission for regulation of gambling and lotteries, the National Bank, and the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine with a request to provide us with the necessary explanations on how we can return this money to our clients. Initially, we received responses that, in principle, did not indicate a specific mechanism and were simply referrals to legislation. We have engaged lawyers who have written advocacy requests with more specific questions, and we are awaiting their response. We'll see. As far as I know, at least in the National Security and Defense Council, these letters were sent in order to obtain additional information about the amount and what to do next. That is, there are some indications that they really want to develop a mechanism and resolve this situation.

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