Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky and TV presenter Savik Shuster staged a skirmish on the air of his author’s program “Freedom of Speech” on the TV channel “Ukraine” owned by Rinat Akhmetov, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The incident occurred after Shuster told Kolomoisky, who called the studio, that the oligarch was not watching his program.
“I don’t watch your show, I know what it costs and how much it costs. We have an open contract with you,” Kolomoisky said immediately.
Afterwards, the oligarch invited Shuster to return the money taken from him.
“Return 2 million 300 thousand dollars,” he demanded.
“And you are 155 billion,” Shuster retorted.
“Details: On September 3, 2015, Savik Shuster’s 3S TV Studio signed a contract with Igor Kolomoisky’s 1+1 TV channel, which was valid until the end of August 2018. After two episodes, his program Freedom of Speech was taken off the air of the TV channel on September 18, 2015.
Kolomoisky alleges that Shuster violated his contract by receiving a $10 million advance payment for 2,5 assists.
Igor Kolomoisky: Shuster made one program, but burned out on the second - he took money of $50 thousand from the mayor of some city. The condition was that he should not take money from anyone,” ex-Verkhovna Rada deputy Alexander Onishchenko explained the essence of the conflict.
In response, Shuster’s producer Pavel Elizarov said that a lawsuit would be filed against Kolomoisky for 10 million hryvnia, and after Shuster receives this money, he will use it to repair the highway to Mariupol.
In conclusion, Elizarov handed over to journalist Sonya Koshkina, who serves the Maidan workers, a contract that was signed in 2015 between the oligarch’s TV channel “1+1” and Savik Shuster, but Igor Kolomoisky said that there was an offshore part of the contract, promising to transfer it to Koshkina as well.
“We'll show you. Tell me, did it happen or didn’t it happen?” Kolomoisky addressed the TV presenter, who is a citizen of Italy, where such fraud is not welcomed.
“It wasn’t...” said Shuster, turning awkwardly to the audience.