Billionaire businessman Ihor Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine’s most influential oligarchs, has been arrested and detained for fraud and corruption. The arrest comes as part of a regime-wide sweep meant to tackle corrupt elements amid disappointing gains in its counter-offensive against Russian forces.
Ukrainian media claims that the judge in the case set the bail for Kolomoisky at a massive €12.7 million, as the 60-year-old is accused by the Ukrainian security services, the SBU, of acquiring property illegally and engaging in fraud.
“It was established that during 2013-2020, Ihor Kolomoisky legalised more than half a billion hryvnias (€12m) by withdrawing them abroad and using the infrastructure of banks under [his] control,” Euronews reported.
The arrest and detention of Kolomoisky comes after his home in Dnipro had been raided by security services in January of this year. The raids were connected to separate investigations involving tax evasion and embezzlement linked to two of Ukraine’s largest oil companies, of which he had partial ownership until they were seized in November of 2022 by Ukrainian authorities.
Kolomoisky is known as one of the richest men in Ukraine, but has also acquired notoriety as one of the early influential supporters of Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky’s famous television programme, Servant of the People, in which Zelensky played a fictitious president of Ukraine, was broadcast on the network owned by Kolomoisky.
In 2019, prior to his election as president, Politico noted that Kolomoisky’s network provided security and other logistical support to Zelensky’s campaign, during which time Zelensky used Kolomoisky’s personal lawyer. Zelensky’s critics, including the opposition campaign of former President Petro Poroshenko, mocked him as a puppet of Kolomoisky due to this relationship.
Kolomoisky, who formerly served as governor of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast from 2014 to 2015, is also alleged to have ties to the neo-Nazi-linked Aidar Battalion, despite being Jewish himself and holding an Israeli passport. The Aidar battalion has been accused of participating in war crimes by Amnesty International, including abuses of civilians, extortion, abductions, theft, and even executions.
The Russian Ministry of Defence acknowledged last year that the Aidar Battalion had kidnapped 300 civilians and monks in the village of Nikolskoye, victims, the defence ministry claimed, who were later freed by Russian forces.
Ukraine’s prosecution of Kolomoisky is believed to be part of a broader campaign against corruption in a country well-known for being one of the most corrupt in all of Europe.
Corruption has seemingly harmed the Ukrainian war effort. The Zelensky government recently fired all of the heads of the regional armed forces recruiting offices after it emerged some heads were taking bribes in order to help young men avoid military service. In one case, former Odesa enlistment office head Yevhen Borisov was accused of pocketing millions of euros worth of bribes in order to declare men unfit for service.
Corruption allegations have also seemingly led to the ousting of Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov last weekend after it emerged he may have misappropriated military aid sent from the West. Unlike Kolomoisky and others, however, it does not appear that Reznikov will be prosecuted, as reports claim that he will be taking up a diplomatic post in the United Kingdom. The departure of Reznikov is less transparent, as it may be an excuse for the Zelensky government to make changes in the defence ministry whose lack of success in the summer counter-offensive has yet to make any meaningful gains against Russian defences in the south of the country.
According to a report from the BBC, Kolomoisky will not attempt to post bail but has appealed against the court’s order to keep him in preventative detention. His lawyers have claimed that he is being held at the headquarters of the SBU.
