The transfer was made possible by an amendment President Yanukovych passed in March, eliminating a long-standing legal obstacle to the privatization of state-owned companies, Forbes reported.
Oleksandr Yanukovych, denied he had anything to do with the transfer in a letter to OCCRP partner the Kyiv Post, which reported on this transaction in detail Thursday. But Forbes Ukraine's Kateryna Kapliuk, with help from OCCRP, found that the umbrella company now controlling the plants is closely linked to him through business associates and his ownership in other agencies.