30-07-2025
Tycoons Lose UK Suit Over $1.9 Billion Ukrainian Bank Fraud
Ukrainian tycoons lost a long awaited London court ruling over a fraud that cost the state-owned lender Privatbank PJSC billions of dollars.
The bank sued the ex-billionaires Igor Kolomoisky and Gennady Bogolyubov in 2017 alleging the former owners funneled $1.9 billion through 'sham' loans and trade documents to secretly owned companies in England and British Virgin Islands between 2013 and 2014.
Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov ran 'a highly complex loan recycling scheme' and are liable 'to the bank for compensation for the harm it sustained,' Judge William Trower said in the ruling published Wednesday. The court will determine the precise amount they owe at a further hearing.
The bank was forced to take a bailout and nationalized in 2016. The verdict is crucial for Ukraine as the country reckons with its historic links to a handful of powerful oligarchs. The ruling comes as anti-corruption protests spread in Ukraine following the parliament's and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's attempt to rein in anti-graft agencies.
Kolomoisky, an industrial and media magnate, helped Zelenskiy's former career as a TV comic and also gave him a platform to pitch for the country's top political job.
The pair though have lost much of their influence in Ukraine amid ongoing legal pressure. Kolomoisky is currently being held in a detention center, standing trial on various charges ranging from fraud to contract murder, while Bogolyubov fled Ukraine last year in anticipation of criminal charges against him.
The tycoons previously denied all allegations of wrongdoing saying the claims were politically motivated. They contested the case, though neither testified at the trial. The case against them was 'hopelessly vague,' Kolomoisky's lawyers said during the trial. Their lawyers didn't immediately respond to emails for comment.
Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov's global assets were frozen by the UK courts in 2017. Their assets were spread over at least 33 jurisdictions, the bank's lawyer told the court on Wednesday after the ruling. 'These defendants will move assets to keep them away from the bank,' the bank's lawyer Tim Akkouh said.
'The evidence presented has clearly confirmed today's conclusion that billions of dollars were unlawfully misappropriated through a prolonged and systematic fraudulent scheme — validating our decision to pursue this claim with determination over many years,' Nils Melngailis, chairman of PrivatBank's supervisory board, said.
With assistance from Daryna Krasnolutska.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
