Ukrainian court leaves Kolomoisky in pretrial detention until January 26, 2024

This was reported by Espreso TV correspondent Dmytro Didora.

Kolomoisky's lawyers asked to change the conditions of their client's detention and prescribe additional treatment for him, citing the recommendations of a doctor. 

According to the doctor, Kolomoisky has liver hepatosis, pancreatitis, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, pulmonary artery insufficiency, grade 1 heart failure and inguinal hernia.

However, the court remanded Kolomoisky in custody until 26 January, with the possibility of bail in the amount of UAH 3 billion 700 thousand, and ruled to provide him with medical care.

During the hearing, Ihor Kolomoisky noted that all his assets had been seized, and he had only "a conditional amount of 20 thousand pounds per month" at his disposal.  

"When PrivatBank filed a lawsuit in England, all my assets were seized, they are frozen and cannot be used in any way. I have a conditional amount of £20,000 per month at my disposal. This is what I have the right to use, according to the court order. In addition, some property was arrested by the Shevchenkivskyi court, following suspicion. According to the decision of the UK court, I cannot use my assets," Kolomoisky said. 

What is known about the cases related to Kolomoisky

At the end of 2016, the government decided to nationalize PrivatBank, after which the financial institution was additionally capitalized by over UAH 155 billion. Earlier, the US Department of Justice accused Ihor Kolomoyskyi of embezzling billions of dollars from PrivatBank, which he then allegedly "laundered" through companies in the United States and other countries. The oligarch denied the allegations and said that he had made all the investments from his own funds.

Ukrainian and foreign courts have considered more than 240 proceedings regarding the nationalization of PrivatBank. In particular, a London court is considering a lawsuit filed by PrivatBank against the former owners of the financial institution, Kolomoyskyi and Boholyubov, and their affiliated companies. The bank is seeking compensation in connection with schemes that have signs of fraud and money laundering, which the bank believes were implemented by its former owners.

On March 5, 2021, the United States imposed sanctions on Ihor Kolomoyskyi and his family members.

In September 2022, Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities notified eight people involved in a criminal investigation of suspicion of misappropriation of funds of JSC Ukrnafta, one of the shareholders of which is the Privat group associated with Ihor Kolomoyskyi, in the amount of over UAH 13 billion. The suspects include the former chairman of Ukrnafta's board; the former deputy head of the company's oil, gas and refined products sales department; the former head of Ukrnafta's oil and petroleum products supply accounting control department; and former directors of five commercial enterprises.

Later, on November 7, 2022, the state seized the property of five strategically important enterprises, including Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta. At the same time, in November 2022, businessmen Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Hennadiy Boholyubov, co-owner of the Privat group, were arrested in absentia in Russia for allegedly misappropriating 800,000 tons of Russian oil.

On September 2, 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) served Ihor Kolomoisky with a notice of suspicion of legalization of fraudulently obtained property. On the same day, Kolomoyskyi arrived at the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv, where he was imposed a 60-day arrest with the possibility of bail in the amount of UAH 509 million.

Serhiy Leshchenko, a non-staff adviser to the head of the Presidential Office, stated that Kolomoyskyi was listed in the fraud case as a citizen of Israel and Cyprus. However, Censor.Net published a video of Kolomoyskyi's pre-trial restraint, during which the judge called the suspect a citizen of Ukraine.

On September 6, the hearing of the appeal against the pre-trial restraint against Ihor Kolomoyskyi was postponed to September 25, as the case file was not submitted to the court in time.

On September 7, National Anti-Corruption Bureau detectives served Ihor Kolomoyskyi and 5 other former employees of the banking institution with a notice of suspicion of misappropriation of over UAH 9.2 billion of PrivatBank funds.

On September 8, it was reported that Kolomoyskyi's assets had been seized for 48 hours based on National Anti-Corruption Bureau materials.

On September 15, the SBU informed that Ihor Kolomoyskyi has been served with the third suspicion of misappropriation of UAH 5.8 billion.

On November 16, the court extended Kolomoisky's measure of restraint in the form of detention until December 2, 2023, with an alternative bail of UAH 3 billion 712 thousand.