“Money laundered through the Jewish community: new details emerge in Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov cases
9 October 2024 18:32
Hennadiy Boholyubov, co-founder of Privat Group and President of the Dnipro Jewish community, and businessman Ihor Kolomoisky laundered almost UAH 6 billion through the Jewish community of Ukraine. This is stated in the The ruling of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Investigators managed to establish that the money was laundered through the accounts of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine. In total, it is about more than 5.8 billion UAH that was transferred abroad.
TheUnited Jewish Community of Ukraine is an all-Ukrainian Jewish public organisation. It includes 140 Jewish organisations and communities from all over Ukraine.
The community was founded in 1999, but became active after the election of Ihor Kolomoisky as president. The founders and members of the community are Jewish public organisations and associations. The head office is located in the Menorah Jewish Community Centre in Dnipro.
At the same time, the ruling lists Kolomoisky’s business partner, Hennadii Boholiubov, as one of the organisations and individuals involved in money laundering. He is a representative of the leadership of the Jewish community of Ukraine and heads the Jewish community of Dnipro as president. In addition, Boholyubov is one of the beneficiaries of Proton-21 LLC, which, according to the SBU investigation, was also used to launder money.
It should be noted that at the end of September 2024, Bogolyubov was put on the wanted list at the request of the State Bureau of Investigation. He is wanted on suspicion of committing crimes under Article 357, Part 3 (Possession of a passport or other important personal document) and Article 332, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Illegal crossing of the state border of Ukraine). In Ukraine, he faces a sentence of up to three years’ imprisonment.
According to the SBI, Bogolyubov illegally left the territory of Ukraine accompanied by his close relative on 24 June 2024, while travelling on the Kyiv-Helm train. According to his documents, the oligarch did not cross the border of Ukraine. He travelled using an invalid passport of a citizen of Ukraine who is physically present in Ukraine and has not left the country.
“At the same time, the oligarch presented Polish border guards with his personal passport of a citizen of Ukraine for travelling abroad,” the SBI said.
