Lawyers: Appointment Of Antonov’s New Head Illegal

The Ilyashev & Partners law firm, which represents the interests of the Antonov state enterprise, has said that the appointment of Serhii Merenkov as the new acting head of the Antonov state enterprise is illegal.

"In particular, the Ministry of Industrial Policy that was liquidated in 2014 cannot appoint or dismiss the management of the Antonov state enterprise, since the Cabinet of Ministers removed the Antonov state enterprise from the Ministry of Industrial Policy’s sphere of management in March 23, 2014, and subordinated it to the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. Accordingly, only the management of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade can now take measures to replace the state enterprise’s management. A complaint has already been filed with the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine, which will certainly start criminal proceedings against the people that exceeded their authority by attempting to replace the management of the Antonov state enterprise,” the press service of the Ilyashev & Partners law firm quoted senior lawyer Roman Marchenko as saying.

In particular, according to the press service, the person in question is Deputy Minister of Industrial Policy Oleksandr Kalenkov, who, accompanied by 16 people, attempted to replace the leadership of the Antonov state enterprise on August 1.

Furthermore, in an open address to the President of Ukraine, employees of the Antonov state enterprise asked the head of state to enforce the rule of law and end the illegal actions against the Antonov state enterprise.

Earlier, the press service of the Ministry of Industrial Policy announced that Serhii Merenkov had been appointed as the acting President/General Designer of the Antonov state enterprise from August 1, 2014. However, employees of the Antonov state enterprise prevented a seizure of the state enterprise’s seal. "Alerted by security, the enterprise’s self-defense units and employees encircled the ‘invaders’ and expelled them from the territory of the enterprise," the press service of Antonov said.