KYIV, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Ukrainian regulation enforcement and safety officers searched the house of billionaire businessman Ihor Kolomoiskiy on Wednesday.
Listed below are some details about him.
WEALTH
Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoiskiy, 59, is one among Ukraine’s wealthiest males. Forbes journal places his wealth at round $1 billion, however that is lower than half his estimated fortune a decade in the past.
EARLY LIFE
Kolomoiskiy was born within the central Ukrainian metropolis of Dnipropetrovsk, which was then a part of the Soviet Union and is now generally known as Dnipro.
He graduated from Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute and, like many different future enterprise leaders, went into the import-export enterprise because the Soviet Union collapsed.
ASSETS
Kolomoiskiy’s large enterprise breakthrough got here in 1992, when he was one of many founders of PrivatBank, which went on to develop into Ukraine’s largest financial institution.
PrivatBank was nationalised by the federal government in 2016 as a part of a clean-up of the banking system.
Newest Updates
View 2 extra tales
However Kolomoiskiy’s property nonetheless embody 1+1 Media Group, which controls one among Ukraine’s most influential tv channels, and a part of its largest airline, Ukraine Worldwide Airways.
POLITICS
Kolomoiskiy served as governor of the Dnipropetrovsk area from March 2014 till March 2015.
He backed President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s profitable election marketing campaign in 2019 and his tv channel broadcast “Servant of the Individuals”, the collection through which Zelenskiy performed the position of president.
Since then, Kolomoiskiy seems to have fallen foul of a crackdown launched by Zelenskiy on rich businessmen generally known as “oligarchs” who wield outsized political affect. Zelenskiy has additionally sought to root out persistent corruption in Ukraine throughout Russia’s conflict on its neighbour.
SANCTIONS
The US imposed journey sanctions on Kolomoiskiy in 2021 “as a result of his involvement in vital corruption”, partly whereas serving as governor of Dnipropetrovsk.
U.S. authorities have additionally alleged that Kolomoiskiy and a enterprise associate laundered stolen funds via the US. He has denied that allegation.
INVESTIGATIONS
Kolomoiskiy additionally faces issues in Ukraine.
Aside from Wednesday’s raid, anti-corruption officers are additionally probing a case through which they think eight individuals of embezzling property and funds in 2015 from a state-controlled oil firm, Ukrnafta, previously partly owned by Kolomoiskiy.
The agency was one among a number of strategic firms taken over by the Ukrainian authorities late final 12 months to assist enhance the nation’s defence business.
Kolomoiskiy has denied all costs of wrongdoing towards him.
Reporting by Dan Peleschuk, Modifying by Timothy Heritage and Christina Fincher
: .