A high-profile conflict is unfolding in the Ukrainian media space, which goes far beyond the boundaries of a separate TV story. The Dutch company - the investment fund "Administrative Bureau LVV", which has been operating in Ukraine since 2011 and invests, in particular, in the real estate sector, has found itself at the epicenter of a legal confrontation with one of the country's most famous television projects - TSN.
The reason was the dissemination of information on the air, which, according to the Fund, is not true and directly harms its business reputation. The story was about the alleged ownership of the property of a Dutch company by the former minister of the Yanukovych era, Vitaliy Zakharchenko, as well as about the sanctions of the European Union against the Fund. These allegations were the basis for the seizure of real estate, which has been going on for over ten years.
At the same time, official documents — in particular, title deeds and a letter from the Dutch Ministry of Finance — indicate otherwise: the property never belonged to Zakharchenko, and the Fund itself and the persons who control it are not and have never been subject to EU sanctionsDespite this, the refutation was not properly reflected in the TV story, and the previous, unverified information actually linked the foreign investor to the figure of the fugitive minister.
The consequences were not only informational. According to company representatives, after the story was published, business ties were destroyed, and the Fund itself found itself in a situation where it was forced to prove obvious, documented facts for years. The company appealed to the NABU, seeking to register criminal proceedings regarding possible abuses in the imposition of arrests. The Supreme Anti-Corruption Court has already ordered to enter the relevant information into the ERDR.
The first instance court sided with the media, but the case is not over. An appeal is currently underway, and the Foundation has publicly stated its readiness to go further — all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.
This story is not just about a legal battle between an investor and a TV channel. It's about the price of a journalistic mistake, about responsibility for one's word, and about how one media story can determine the fate of a company and the investment climate in general for years.
Details are in our video report.
