The Prosecutor Generalʼs Office and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have reported suspicions to a former beneficiary of one of Ukraineʼs largest banks for fraud involving hundreds of millions of hryvnias. Sources in law enforcement agencies confirmed to Babel that the suspect is businessman Ihor Kolomoisky and fraud at “PrivatBank”.
Investigators claim that in 2014 the suspect built a multi-level scheme through which he withdrew credit funds. Initially, the loans were received by companies controlled by him, and then they were passed through several legal entities and individuals to create the appearance of circulation.
In December 2014, UAH 100 million was received in his account from an enterprise that was under his control. For this, the defendant faces from 5 to 12 years with confiscation.
Investigators are also investigating other facts of the theft of funds by Kolomoisky and the former owners of the bank — $1.9 billion.
- Kolomoisky is already on trial in several cases. One concerns the withdrawal of UAH 9.2 billion from “PrivatBank”. Investigators allege that in early 2015, then head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration Kolomoisky devised a scheme to illegally obtain the bank’s money. He wanted to finance an offshore company he controlled and increase his stake in the bank.
- In another case, investigators suspect that Kolomoisky ordered the murder of lawyer and director of a law firm Serhiy Karpenko in 2003. According to law enforcement, Kolomoisky ordered the murder because he failed to comply with the demands to annul and invalidate the decisions of the general meeting of shareholders of an open joint-stock company. The events took place in Crimea, in Feodosia.
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