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Igor Kolomoisky, an influential Ukrainian oligarch who backed Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presidential campaign, has been named as a suspect in a fraud and money laundering case.
Zelenskyy’s administration is attempting to beef up its anti-corruption credentials to assuage concerns of western allies, which have poured billions of dollars in economic and military support into the country in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“Igor Kolomoisky was served a notice of suspicion of committing crimes . . . fraud and legalisation of property obtained by criminal means,” the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine said on Saturday.
In a separate statement, the SBU state security service said: “It was established that during the years 2013-2020, Igor Kolomoisky legalised more than half a billion UAH [Ukrainian currency] by taking them abroad, while using the infrastructure of controlled banking institutions.”
Kolomoisky, who accepted the notice of suspicion in his home town of Dnipro in his sweatpants and slippers, was not immediately available for comment, but has repeatedly denied allegations of wrongdoing in the past.
A banking, energy and media mogul, Kolomoisky backed Zelenskyy’s 2019 presidential bid. But the comedian turned president has since distanced himself from the oligarch, whose television channels had aired his popular comedy shows.
In this latest case, Kolomoisky is accused of laundering tens of millions of dollars. However, that is just a small share of the billions of dollars of misappropriated funds that government officials have accused him and his partners of siphoning from PrivatBank, which he co-owned.
Despite numerous probes, Saturday’s notice was the first time that Kolomoisky had been formally notified as a suspect of criminal wrongdoing. It was not immediately clear if the notice the oligarch was served related to PrivatBank or other alleged episodes of wrongdoing.
PrivatBank was nationalised in 2016 after a $5.5bn hole in its balance sheet was discovered. Kolomoisky and his partners have since faced numerous legal battles over the PrivatBank case in various jurisdictions, from Kyiv to London, the US, Cyprus and Israel. In 2021, the US imposed sanctions on Kolomoisky, citing his alleged corruption.
In February, Ukrainian investigators searched Kolomoisky’s Dnipro residence in an early morning raid, winning praise from European officials.
The SBU said the search was linked to allegations of embezzlement at the majority state-owned Ukrnafta oil producer and Ukrtatnafta refinery, which Kolomoisky and his partners controlled. Both companies were nationalised in 2022.
Before Russia’s invasion in February 2022, Zelenskyy intensified his campaign against vested interests. But a handful of corruption allegations against officials and politicians in Zelenskyy’s own administration have raised doubts over the crackdown’s scope.