Kolomoisky scandal: business partner reveals high-profile scheme
25 March 01:48
The co-founder of Privat Group, Oleksiy Martynov, has publicly accused his former partners, Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Boholyubov, of laundering huge sums of money through a charity foundation. Martynov wrote about this on his Facebook page, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
Oleksiy Martynov, who, together with Kolomoisky and Boholyubov, was at the origins of the Privat financial and industrial group, has announced a large-scale fraudulent scheme. According to him, for several years, his partners have been using the charitable foundation of a religious organization in Dnipro to launder funds stolen from the state.
“I became aware of an audacious fraudulent scheme that my dishonest partners Boholyubov and Kolomoisky had been carrying out for several years. They used a charitable foundation of one of the religious organizations in the city of Dnipro, in which they were founders, to launder funds stolen from the state. In total, more than five billion hryvnias were laundered through this fund,” Martynov said.
Martynov called on law enforcement to conduct an urgent investigation and provide a legal assessment of these actions.
Which fund is involved in the allegations?
According to Youcontrol, Kolomoisky and Boholyubov were the founders of the Dnipro Jewish Community Charitable Foundation.
This organization, registered in Dnipro, officially supports religious and cultural initiatives. It is this foundation that Martynov was probably referring to, although he did not name it directly in his statement.
The Dnipropetrovs’k Jewish Community Foundation has been mentioned in the context of Kolomoisky’s activities, but no serious accusations have been made so far that it was used for illegal operations.
If Martynov’s words are confirmed, this could be the first time that the oligarch’s charitable organization is at the center of a financial scandal of this magnitude.
Who is Oleksiy Martynov?
Oleksiy Martynov is one of the key players in the creation of the Privat Group in the 1990s.
In 1991, together with Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholyubov, he founded the Sentosa company.
In 1992, together with Kolomoisky, Boholyubov and Miloslavsky, he founded PrivatBank. From 2000 until the bank’s nationalization, Martynov was a member of the supervisory board.
In 2006, he became a director of Solm Ltd, which deals with the ferroalloy business of the Privat Group in Ukraine.
Reaction of the parties
At the time of writing, neither Ihor Kolomoisky nor Gennadiy Boholyubov commented on Martynov’s accusations.
“Ekonomichna Pravda reported that it had contacted Kolomoisky’s lawyer for comment, but he refused to answer.
Nationalization of PrivatBank
The nationalization of PrivatBank took place in 2016, when the bank was declared insolvent due to a significant capital shortage. According to the NBU’s decision, the bank was unable to fulfill its obligations for financial rehabilitation, which was confirmed by an international audit company.
In order to avoid a systemic crisis in the banking sector, the Ukrainian government decided to withdraw the bank from the market with the participation of the state, which helped to maintain financial stability in the country.
The state provided additional capitalization of over UAH 155 billion.
Follow us on Telegram: the main news in brief
What Kolomoisky is accused of in Ukraine
Ihor Kolomoisky is currently in a Ukrainian pre-trial detention center. Ukrainian law enforcement officers have served him with three notices of suspicion under several articles and cases.
on September 2, 2023, the SBU notified Kolomoisky of suspicion on two articles: fraud and legalization (laundering) of the proceeds of crime. According to law enforcement officials, between 2013 and 2020, Kolomoisky legalized more than half a billion hryvnias, transferring them abroad and using the infrastructure of controlled banking institutions.
on September 7, NABU detectives served another suspicion on Kolomoisky and five members of the group he organized – of misappropriating PrivatBank’s funds worth more than UAH 9.2 billion.
on September 15, the SBU served Kolomoisky with a third suspicion – of illegal actions with bank documents, seizure of property by an organized group through abuse of office, and money laundering. According to the investigation, between 2013 and 2014, Kolomoisky illegally seized UAH 5.8 billion through a criminal group consisting of employees of his PrivatBank.
on September 3, 2023, the court for the first time imposed a pre-trial restraint on Kolomoisky: detention with an alternative to bail in excess of UAH 509 million. However, already on September 15, after a new suspicion was announced, the court re-selected the measure of restraint and increased the amount of bail for Kolomoisky to UAH 3 billion 891 million.
After that, the court extended Kolomoisky’s detention four times, while reducing his bail twice – on November 28 to UAH 3 billion and on December 21 to UAH 2.7 billion.
on February 28, Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi District Court extended Ihor Kolomoiskyi’s detention for another two months – until April 25 – and reduced his bail to UAH 2.4 billion.
It should be noted that on May 8, Kolomoisky was notified of being suspected of ordering the murder of a law firm director for personal revenge.
At the same time, back in 2005, a criminal case was already initiated against Kolomoisky in this regard, which was later closed. Back in 2015, former MP and current advisor to the head of the OP Serhiy Leshchenko wrote in his blog why the case was closed and what it had to do with former Prosecutor General Sviatoslav Piskun and oligarch Viktor Pinchuk.
Follow us on Telegram: the main news in brief
