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Charges were brought against Kolomoisky, along with several alleged accomplices, including Oleksandr Dubilet, Lyudmila Shmalchenko, Yaroslav Luhovoy, Tetiana Yakymenko, and Nadiya Konopkina.
NABU’s investigation claims that Kolomoisky orchestrated a scheme in 2015 to funnel funds from PrivatBank to an offshore company and increase his share in the bank's capital. This involved a payment of over $250mn to the offshore company under the pretext of repurchasing its bonds at an inflated cost. A portion of these funds, totaling $12mn, was then channelled to five legal entities before ultimately ending up in Kolomoisky's personal account, according to NABU.
The NABU case against Kolomoisky is separate from the original charges brought by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) that were used to arrest him in September. The SBU is under the direct control of the president and was widely seen as an attempt by Zelenskiy to crack down on Ukraine’s oligarchs. Ukraine’s Economic Security Bureau (BEB) also cooperated in the SBU case that has similar allegations of fraud and money laundering of UAH500mn ($13.5mn) in 2019-2020. Kolomoisky has been held in pre-trial detention since September and refused to post bail. A court this week extended his detention into the New Year.
The court's decision and the potential closure of the NABU case are linked to the controversial "Lozovy amendments," Kyiv Independent reports, which imposed strict deadlines for investigations and limited the terms for sending cases to trial. The Rada passed several laws this week that undermine the judiciary and its ability to vet and bar corrupt judges from office.
Anti-corruption activists argue that these amendments aimed to protect corrupt officials by hindering investigations against them. Despite calls from activists, parliament has yet to repeal these amendments.
The ruling on the Kolomoisky case highlights different interpretations of the Lozovy amendments, with prosecutors and some courts contending that they do not apply when multiple cases are merged, and one was opened before the amendments. The Kyiv Independent reports. The Anti-Corruption Court's appeal chamber disagreed with this interpretation.
As the case hangs in the balance, the future of Ukraine's efforts to prosecute Kolomoisky remains uncertain, prompting concerns about the state of anti-corruption efforts in the country.
The Kolomoisky case comes as Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts are spluttering following a failure to reform the judiciary and bar corrupt judges from office. Zelenskiy has been trying to reform the High Commission and the Anti-corruption Court but is running into stiff institution resistance to any changes.
2.8 Politics - misc
● International Politics
No secret ceasefire talks. US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O'Brien has said a report by Bild tabloid suggesting that Washington and Berlin aim to push Ukraine into talks with Russia is untrue, Reuters reported on November 27. "We have always said that Ukraine
19 UKRAINE Country Report December 2023 www.intellinews.com