The claim

Who would have thought: Ukrainian minister traveling in a stolen Mercedes. The Minister of Justice uses a Mercedes GL 420 as his company car, which has been reported stolen in Germany since January 2010. Doesn't anyone wonder about that?

Our conclusion

We're just surprised that the mini-scandal from 2011 is now a topic again.
Yes, Ukrainian laws at the time made it possible to use the confiscated, stolen vehicle. But the current Minister of Justice has only been in office since 2019, the case has nothing to do with him and the current government. It's more about delegitimizing Minister Denys Maljuska's recent moves: using the funds in blocked Russian accounts as reparations payments and charging Putin as a war criminal.

The story goes like this: The Ukrainian Minister of Justice uses a vehicle as a company car that was previously reported stolen in Germany. However, some important details are often left out:

___STEADY_PAYWALL___

The Ukrainian Interior Minister Schlawi…blowich – who cares, names are just smoke and mirrors – has now been caught. What does “caught” mean here? Of course, it’s also the case in Ukraine that the parties are at loggerheads with each other. This is about... [Gesture of rubbing coin]... Big stuff. So, he was caught and he drives a company car, a Mercedes GL 420. This was stolen in Germany in 2010 and reported stolen.

Vlogger Sven K on November 28th, 2022 on his YouTube channel
MIMIKAMA
Another example of the many postings on Twitter and Facebook

Anno 2011 – The Minister of Justice and the stolen company car

The events surrounding a stolen Mercedes, which had a second career as a company car in Ukraine, were reported . The leased luxury car was registered to a German components company and was reported stolen in January 2010. Interpol issued a wanted notice for the vehicle and it was eventually seized while crossing the border into Ukraine. The owners themselves smuggled it and were sentenced to several years in prison.

A law in Ukraine stipulates that such towed vehicles can be confiscated by the state - even if the owner is known and the vehicle could be returned immediately. However, the Mercedes 420 GL became the official vehicle of the then Ukrainian Minister of Justice, Olexandr Lavrynovych. In 2011, a politician from the coalition partner made the story public . The mini-scandal died down quickly. The process was legal, if morally questionable. And now, 11 years later, the topic is popping up again on social media.

Different justice minister, different government

As Minister of Justice, Olexandr Lavrynovych was a member of the pro-Russian government coalition Azarov I (March 2010 to December 2012) and remained in office during the second period of the Azarov II cabinet for about six months - until July 2013. Since then there have been five further government reshuffles. The current justice minister in the Shmyhal cabinet (under President Volodymyr Zelensky) is called Denys Leontyovych Malyuska. He has held this position since August 2019.

The case with the stolen company car has nothing to do with the current Minister of Justice. Bayerischer Rundfunk fact fox took a close look at who is behind the media attacks These are the AfD, pro-Russian Telegram channels and influencers like Alina Lipp. They rely on an old article from auto.de and tend to ignore the time of the report.

Initiative by the current Minister of Justice

Why is an 11-year-old issue being brought up again and an attempt is being made to delegitimize the current Minister of Justice? This is very easy to answer. On November 29th The justice ministers of the G7 countries met in Berlin. Main topic: The investigation into war crimes committed in Ukraine. “compensation mechanism” in advance . For example, funds in European accounts that were frozen as part of sanctions against Russia should be transferred directly to Ukraine.

“Russia must pay the Ukrainian people for the damage they caused in this war,” Maljuska was quoted as saying by the newspapers of the Funke media group. “Russia must pay reparations, as we have seen in past wars in other regions.” He estimates damages in the amount of $150 billion, “which does not include the economic damage and the costs for the injured and war victims and does not include their families”.

Ukraine's counteroffensive caught the Russian military leadership by surprise, so a lot of evidence of war crimes remained. State and non-state forces at home and abroad work together to preserve evidence. Because many of those affected have now left Ukraine. “The International Court of Justice is also collecting evidence of war crimes in Ukraine. All this information will be important for future compensation claims,” Maljuska told TAZ .

The most important thing is to bring those most responsible, namely Russian President Vladimir Putin and his team, to a special court.

Justice Minister Denys Maljuska in an interview with the TAZ

CONCLUSION

Yes, the story with the company car really happened in 2011. However, the current Minister of Justice has nothing to do with the matter. The story is currently only being trotted out to delegitimize Denys Maljuska's important concerns: compensation for war damage and an indictment of Putin before the international court.

Spicy side detail: There is also a similar law in Russia that prevents stolen and smuggled vehicles from having to be returned. As soon as a year has passed and a proper purchase contract is in place, the vehicle finally belongs to the new owner and the old one looks through his fingers. Incidentally, things are not much different in the Netherlands.


Sources: Ukrajinska Pravda , Ukrainian Ministry of Justice , BR24 Factfuchs , auto.de , RND , TAZ , Der Spiegel
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