[1/6]Ukrainian business tycoon and one of Ukraine’s most prominent billionaires Ihor Kolomoisky arrives in court in Kyiv on September 2, 2023, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Portal/Vladyslav Musiienko acquires license rights
KYIV, Sept 2 (Portal) – A Ukrainian court on Saturday ordered tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky to remain in custody for two months on suspicion of fraud and money laundering, a striking move against one of the country’s most powerful businessmen.
The detention of Kolomoisky, who is under U.S. sanctions and a former supporter of President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose election he helped in 2019, comes as Kiev seeks to signal progress in fighting wartime corruption.
Defense attorneys said Kolomoisky would appeal the verdict and challenge its legality, but he would not post nearly $14 million in bail to ensure his release, Radio Liberty reported.
After a hearing late Saturday in a Kiev district court, Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine’s richest men, was shown in television footage being led away in a blue tracksuit jacket. He could not be reached for comment.
Ukraine’s Security Service announced the case against Kolomoisky on Saturday morning, publishing photos on Telegram Messenger showing him being served and signed by security officials.
“It was found that in the period 2013-2020, Ihor Kolomoisky legalized more than half a billion hryvnias ($14 million) by withdrawing them abroad and using the infrastructure of banks under his control,” it said a statement from the agency.
After the verdict, Zelenskiy appeared to indirectly allude to the case in his evening address, thanking law enforcement for their determination to bring long-standing cases to trial.
“Without a doubt, there will be no more decades of ‘business as usual’ for those who plundered Ukraine and put themselves above the law and all the rules… The law must work,” he said.
MEASURE IN WAR
Kolomoisky is considered one of the oligarchs who amassed enormous industrial wealth and wielded enormous political and economic influence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Before the Russian invasion in February 2022, Zelenskiy and his team passed a law requiring oligarchs To and stay out of politics. The war undermined the oligarchs’ power as industrial plants in the east and south were destroyed and their television stations broadcast under a centralized signal.
Before Zelensky won the presidency, he made a name for himself as a comedian, playing the role of the president in a program broadcast on a Kolomoisky-owned television channel. He denies that Kolomoisky had any influence on the government.
During the war, Zelensky emphasized Ukraine’s crackdown on corruption as Kiev applied to join the European Union and hoped to receive tens of billions of dollars to help rebuild the country after a war with no end in sight.
Kolomoisky’s imprisonment is not the first act of war in which he has been involved.
Last November, the state took control of shares in key strategic companies, some of which were linked to the businessman, invoking wartime laws to support the war effort.
Earlier this year, security officials searched Kolomoisky’s home as part of a separate investigation into embezzlement and tax evasion at the country’s two largest oil companies, which he partially owned.
Kolomoisky is the former owner of leading Ukrainian bank PrivatBank, which was nationalized at the end of 2016 as part of a restructuring of the banking system.
He owned assets in energy, banking and other sectors, including an influential television network.
The US imposed sanctions on Kolomoisky in 2021 “for his involvement in significant corruption.” U.S. authorities have also accused Kolomoisky and a business associate of laundering stolen funds through the United States. Kolomoisky has denied any wrongdoing.
($1 = 36.5686 hryvnia)
Reporting by Olena Harmash; Edited by Ron Popeski, Tomasz Janowski, Frances Kerry and Jonathan Oatis
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