Ukrainian oligarch Kolomoyskyi's bail has been increased to over UAH 3.8 billion 

The Ukrainian media project Graty reported this.

The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv partially granted the prosecutor's request and increased the bail for Ihor Kolomoiskyi from almost UAH 510 million to UAH 3 billion 891 million. 

The new measure of restraint was chosen due to a new suspicion of Kolomoyskyi of falsifying payment documents and laundering the proceeds of illegal activities in the amount of UAH 5.8 billion between 2013 and 2014.

The prosecutor's office asked the court to increase the bail to almost UAH 5.88 billion "in proportion to the damage caused".

During the court hearing, the defense lawyers asked to postpone the hearing because they did not have enough time to familiarize themselves with the case file and prepare a proper defense strategy.

They also asked for the judge's recusal, arguing that there was not enough time to familiarize themselves with the case file, as well as the urgent appointment of the hearing despite the fact that Kolomoyskyi is already in the SBU temporary detention center. Shevchenkivskyi Court Judge Olena Chaika did not support the recusal of investigating judge Oleksiy Hlian in the case of considering a new pre-trial restraint for Kolomoyskyi. The hearing to choose a new pre-trial restraint continued after a short break.

After his arrest on September 2, Ihor Kolomoyskyi is being held in custody in the SBU detention center. He does not plan to post bail at this time.

Note. According to Art. 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and shall not be subjected to criminal punishment until his or her guilt is proved by law and established by a court verdict of guilty.

The cases related to Kolomoyskyi: what is known

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 Saturday, 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.

Ihor Kolomoyskyi is charged with fraud and misappropriation of property.

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 Thursday, 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.