Igor Kolomoisky. Team “Privat”. Image of a very rich person
Information from the study of the Center for Economic Strategy “Oligarchic Ukrainian Capital”, printed by Our Money.
Gennady Bogolyubov, Igor Kolomoisky and Oleksiy Martynov are the fourth, fifth and ninth wealthiest individuals in Ukraine. They are the primary beneficiaries of the financial and industrial group “Privat” (officially non-existent, as there is no legally registered holding, association, corporation “Privat”). The initial founders of PrivatBank were three companies: Solm (Martynov-Miloslavsky), Sentosa (Kolomoisky-Bogolyubov) and West.
Unlike Akhmetov or Pinchuk, it is challenging to organize the assets of Kolomoisky, Bogolyubov and Martynov, as many are listed under related individuals with foreign registration and numerous offshore and foreign companies. Investigative journalists from the Anti-Corruption Action Center provided more details about a portion of the structure of business assets of the Privat group.
Overall, the YouControl system links nearly 975 companies and 37 important individuals with the Privat business group. Despite the fact that PrivatBank is no longer part of it, the group still retains this name. During 2015-2019, a considerable amount of their assets were frozen, PrivatBank was taken over by the state, and their influence diminished in some areas. Additionally, Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov faced lawsuits and investigations in Ukraine and abroad. Despite this wide range of interests and the potential influence of these wealthy individuals, it remains significant.
Alexey Martynov is one of the most private businesspeople, director of Solm LTD LLC, which is part of the Privat financial and industrial group, he was a member of the Supervisory Board of PrivatBank from 2000 to 2016 (during the bank's nationalization). His assets are linked to finances, although it is almost impossible to accurately determine his interests separately from other members of the Privat group. In terms of assets, the Privat group ranks second after Rinat Akhmetov.
Igor Kolomoisky. BUSINESS INTERESTS REPRESENTED
METALLURGY
Most of the assets of Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov are in the field of metallurgy. In addition to Ukrainian companies, they also own metallurgical plants in the United States. In May 2019, the state-owned PrivatBank filed a lawsuit against Igor Kolomoisky and Gennady Bogolyubov in the Delaware Court of Chancery with suspicion of embezzling $623 million. through their withdrawal from PrivatBank accounts. With this money, the assets of American enterprises were acquired, including CC Metals and Alloys, a manufacturer and supplier of ferrosilicon in the United States, Felman Production LLC, a ferrosilicomanganese manufacturer, Kentucky Electric Steel, Warren Steel, Corey Steel, and a Detroit Cold rolled metal plant. Therefore, the FBI launched an investigation, according to journalists.
Metallurgy, specifically the ferroalloy industry, is also Martynov's area of interest. Martynov himself stated that they significantly grew their ore and ferroalloy assets, as they view this sector as very promising. Kolomoisky also mentioned this in an interview with Zerkalo Nedeli: “Martynov is primarily involved in ferroalloys.”
Igor Kolomoisky. Group “Privat”. Picture of a very rich businessman
Igor Kolomoisky. OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY
Ukrnafta, the biggest oil producer in Ukraine, has Igor Kolomoisky as the owner of 42% of the company. The state, through Naftogaz Ukrainy, owns the controlling stake of 50% plus 1 share. However, from 2010 to 2015, there was an agreement allowing minority shareholders to appoint the chairman and members of the board of Ukrnafta, giving them the opportunity to profit from Ukrnafta's dealings with companies they control.
In 2012, Ukrnafta gave $474 million to Rializ Oil LLC, which is connected with Kolomoisky, for future fuel oil, gasoline, and diesel fuel supply, but Ukrnafta didn't get any products or money back. In 2014, Ukrnafta stopped paying rent for oil and gas production.
In 2015, the company provided prepayments for future petroleum product supply to 24 companies related to the Privat group. The company also sold crude oil worth $355 million. Kolomoisky, called “Ukrtatnafta” was involved with this.
In 2019, Ukrnafta owed UAH 13.895 billion in taxes. In May 2019, it was reported that the company had paid off UAH 1.5 billion of the debt in the past six months. Additionally, in March 2019, Ukrnafta shareholders decided that the sale of 4 billion m3 of gas to Naftogaz of Ukraine would go toward paying the tax debt.
Kolomoisky also exerted pressure on Ukrtransnafta JSC. Similar to Ukrnafta, the state has no influence in Ukrtransnafta, even though Naftogaz owns 43% of the shares. The last shareholder meeting was held in 2010. At the same time, the previous shareholder of Ukrtransneft, the Russian company Tatneft, took legal action against Ukraine in an international tribunal. The debt to Tatneft is currently $140 million. However, Kolomoisky is hopeful that the debt to Tatneft will be forgiven in exchange for Russia's debts to Ukraine for property in the occupied Crimea, and not for the funds of the Privat group.
The group also possesses or has an influence over a chain of gas stations operating under various brands including Avias, Ukrnafta, ANP, ZNP, Sentosa Oil, Yukon, and Rubix. The network has approximately 1.5 thousand gas stations, making up almost 25% of the total gas stations in Ukraine. In 2021, the Antimonopoly Committee imposed a fine of UAH 4.7 billion for collusive pricing in 2016, which is one of the largest fines in the committee's history (but it was not paid).
Igor Kolomoisky. Group “Privat”. Picture of a very rich businessman
TRANSPORT
Igor Kolomoisky's main asset in transportation is UIA PJSC through shares of Capital Investment Project LLC and Ontobed Promotion Limited LLC. The full list of beneficiaries is unknown. Kolomoisky stated that he owns 25% of the shares, not including possible related parties.
Kolomoisky also controls Windrose Airlines, Aerosvit (it went bankrupt), Dniproavia, and Donbassaero. Windrose Airlines won a tender for carrying out official letter transportation for government officials in August 2019. Bogolyubov and Kolomoisky also own the Borivage grain handling complex in the Yuzhny port.
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
The assets of JSC «Dneprozot104, a company that stopped producing liquid chlorine in 2018, were seized to recover the debt of PrivatBank to the National Bank of Ukraine. The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine fined the enterprise UAH 80 million for abusing its monopoly position.
FOOD AND AGRO SECTOR
The Privat group owns over 100 thousand hectares of land and also controls TM “Schedro”, which includes Lvov, Kharkiv, Zaporozhye oil and fat plants, and TM “Biola” which produces juices, waters, and other carbonated drinks.
ENERGY
Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov have minority stakes in several oblenergos and influence on the state-owned generating company Centrenergo through a trading scheme.
The enterprise Centrenergo was reportedly controlled by people close to Kolomoisky who used a trading scheme to sell energy resources to the state company at higher prices and buy electricity at lower prices, while being fully paid unlike other suppliers.
IGOR KOLOMOISKY. REGULATIONS WITH INTERESTS
ELECTRICITY TARIFFS
Certain companies affiliated with Igor Kolomoisky use a lower electricity tariff compared to the rest of the market participants, based on the decision of the Kyiv District Administrative Court.
PAYMENTS « TATNEFT” AND QUOTAS FOR IMPORT OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
A journalistic investigation revealed that shares of the Ukrtatneft refinery previously belonging to companies close to Tatneft were acquired by companies from the Privat group, with Kolomoisky now owning 28% of the shares. Tatneft received compensation from Ukraine following a lawsuit filed at the International Arbitration Court.
The Republic of Tatarstan filed a lawsuit against Ukraine for compensation, and Tatneft filed a lawsuit against individuals including Bogolyubov, Kolomoisky, Yaroslavsky, and Ovcharenko. Additionally, Ukrtatnafta requested an anti-subsidiary investigation of gasoline imports from Belarus.
OIL TRANSPORTATION TARIFFS
Between 2009 and 2015, Oleksandr Lazorko, who is close to Igor Kolomoisky, served as the head of the state-owned Ukrtransnafta, resulting in the Privat group receiving special terms.
As a result, several agreements were made, in which more than half of the state's technological oil was entrusted to three companies close to Igor Kolomoisky: PJSC 'NPK-Galicia', PJSC 'Neftekhimik Prykarpattya' and PJSC 'Ukrtatnafta'.
During 2014-2015, Ukrtransnafta moved 600,000 tons of industrial oil from pipelines to Kolomoisky's facilities for storage under the guise of protecting it from separatists. Lazorko also kept low pumping oil tariffs at the Kremenchuk Oil Refinery, which is controlled by the Privat group. This could influence the NEURC resolution on increasing oil transportation tariffs. Igor Kolomoisky has long contributed to monopolizing Ukraine International Airlines' aviation market, and the Privat group held a monopoly over Dnipro airport until September 2022.
AVIATION TAX
On May 16, 2018, the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court of Ukraine declined to review the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine from May 16, 2017 regarding nationwide spending on aviation activities and Ukraine's participation in international aviation organizations.
In 2015, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau's main detectives reported suspicion to the State Aviation Service exec, the president, and the chief accountant of UIA. UIA collected an air tax for passenger and cargo transportation but did not transfer it to the fund, resulting in unpaid amounts of UAH 147 million from 2014-2016. Despite outstanding debts to the fund, the State Aviation Service allowed the air carrier to receive new directions for transportation.
Igor Kolomoisky. COURTS ON PRIVATBANK
Prior to the nationalization of PrivatBank in 2016, Igor Kolomoisky (49.98%) and business partner Gennady Bogolyubov (41.58%) were its beneficial owners. Another 8.5% was owned by minority shareholders, such as the board chairman Alexander Dubilet.
In 2015, Igor Kolomoisky signed a personal surety agreement with the National Bank of Ukraine regarding repayment of five PrivatBank refinancing loans received from 2008 to 2014. In December 2018, the NBU filed a lawsuit in the Court of the Republic and the Canton of Geneva against Igor Kolomoisky for a total amount of UAH 6.64 billion.
The nationalization of PrivatBank led to numerous lawsuits, both in Ukraine and abroad. While Ukrainian courts initially favored the government and the NBU in 2017-2018, they later began ruling in favor of the former owners.
The Ukrainian government may have made mistakes during the complicated process of nationalizing a bank, which happened under a lot of pressure. But nationalizing the bank was the only option to avoid it going bankrupt, because it was too big to fail and the former owners refused to put more money into it.
According to NBU representatives, the previous loans of people related to the bank are not being paid back. The lawsuits are trying to get back the money owed by these related parties to cover the cost of the bank's capitalization. Court decisions that question the legality of these loans or the nationalization make it less likely that taxpayer money will be recovered.
On May 13, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law that makes it impossible to return troubled banks to their former owners and limits compensation to them. First of all, it was adopted to make it more difficult for the former owners of PrivatBank to try to return the bank, so it was immediately called the “anti-Kolomoisky” law.
Kolomoisky has previously stated that he wants to get back the shares of PrivatBank, which was nationalized, or get $2 billion in return.
Key lawsuits:
- Case No. 826/7432/17124, in which Kolomoisky is challenging the sale of the bank by the state to the Kyiv District Administrative Court. The case was put on hold on March 2, 2021 by the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal due to the decision of the Constitutional Court on the “anti-Kolomoisky” law. But on June 1, 2022, the Supreme Court accepted the appeals of the bank, the NBU, and the Cabinet of Ministers, overturned this decision, and suggested continuing the case in appeal court.
- Case No. 910/1834/19125 essentially duplicates the previous case. On June 13, 2022, the Kyiv Economic Court postponed the case. On June 28, 2022, the Supreme Court refused to consider the plaintiff's appeals. On June 21, 2022, the first instance court (Kyiv Economic Court) resumed the proceedings.
- Case No. 910/15737/20126 is similar to the previous ones, but is about the rights and interests of Gennady Bogolyubov. The case is still ongoing at the first instance.
- Case No. 826/6664/17127 is about the Cypriot company Triantal Investments, connected to the former owners, challenging the results of a bank audit before the nationalization. The appeals hearing for this case is ongoing.
POTENTIAL RISKS
The main worry is that Kolomoisky is not taking responsibility for causing PrivatBank to go bankrupt and not paying back the debts to related parties and refinancing from the NBU. There were previously other risks (in the energy, metallurgy, and aviation transport sectors), but they are not important anymore.
MEDIA
The 1 + 1 media group is owned by Igor Kolomoisky, Igor Surkis, and Oksana Marchenko (wife of Viktor Medvedchuk). The 1+1 TV channel is one of the most popular in Ukraine.
Having control over the media lets you both weaken the positions of your opponents and improve your image in society. In 2016, the CEO of the 1 + 1 group said that 1 + 1 and its many affiliated companies have been losing money for almost ten years, but the media group is important to Kolomoisky because of the influence it has (Kolomoisky’s media holdings have since moved to the Private group).
Makarov, a person connected to 1+1 from the beginning, referred to the channel as a 'tool' in 2016. This is because the channel often aired programs that attacked Kolomoisky’s opponents and gave positive coverage to his own activities and the activities of political parties connected to him.
Chart 14. Ratings of TV channels based on owners
Igor Kolomoisky. SPORT
Igor Kolomoisky's main sports possession was FC Dnepr, of which he became one of the owners in 1996, when Privat Group acquired the club. However, they only started spending a lot of money on Dnipro after 10 years. Before that, the team tried to be self-sufficient, but ultimately settled for average budgets and investments.
During his 23-year leadership, Kolomoisky and his partners bought players for 100 million euros and funded the construction of the 'Dnepr-Arena' football stadium in 2008 for 65 million euros. According to journalists, Kolomoisky spent around $350 million on Dnieper.
During its peak, Dnipro Kolomoisky was considered the third or fourth most dominant force in Ukrainian football, alongside clubs like Shakhtar Akhmetov, Dynamo Surkis brothers, and similar to Metalist Yaroslavsky. The budgets of these football clubs matched this hierarchy. Additionally, Kolomoisky and his partners were linked to the funding of several other professional clubs, alongside Dnipro – including Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih, Volyn Lutsk, Karpaty Lviv, and Arsenal Kiev. These clubs played in the Ukrainian Football Championship alongside Dnipro.
Similar to the situation with FC Dnepr, the funding of these teams eventually became unstable and some of them ceased to exist. Kolomoisky himself denies financial connections to these teams. In 2017, FC Dnipro declared bankruptcy after long legal battles due to unpaid salaries and debts to contractors. It's ironic that the club's funding stopped at the peak of its success – the final of the Europa League.
Simultaneously with the bankruptcy, a new club called SK Dnepr-1 emerged in Dnipro. Although Kolomoisky denied ties with this new club, circumstantial evidence confirmed his involvement with the project. The new club was formed from players, coaches, and staff of the bankrupt FC Dnepr, and the oligarch himself could often be seen in the stands during FC Dnepr-1 matches.
In terms of the political 'sports' aspirations of Kolomoisky, in 2010 he served as the vice president of the FFU, which was then led by Grigory Surkis. In 2015, Kolomoisky made an unsuccessful attempt to become president of the Football Federation of Ukraine.
Aside from football, the Privat Kolomoisky group and partners are linked to financing individual hockey teams and 7 professional basketball clubs. This was confirmed by the President of the Basketball Federation of Ukraine Mikhail Brodsky. However, there are no official documents or data on this. It's interesting to note that Igor Kolomoisky’s son, Grigory, plays in one of the clubs associated with his father – BC Dnepr. These clubs even tried to break away and form a separate “Private League” in 2015.
RELIGION
Together with his business partner Gennady Bogolyubov, Kolomoisky is an active member of the Jewish community of Dnipro. “These are powerful people, and Jewishness comes first for them,” commented Chief Rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk Shmuel Kaminetsky. According to him, businessmen not only give money, but also personally join Judaism – they pray and observe religious traditions.
Together with Bogolyubov, in 2012, the oligarchs opened the world's largest Jewish community complex, the Menorah, in Dnipro. The total area of the complex is 50 thousand square meters.
At various times, Kolomoisky was the president of the United Jewish Society of Ukraine, the president of the European Jewish Council and similar religious associations.
In 2020, US law enforcement accused Kolomoisky of money laundering for hundreds of millions of dollars. Mordechai Korfa and Uriel Labera, who came to Ukraine as volunteers of the Jewish religious humanitarian mission, were named partners who helped him do this.
Igor Kolomoisky. FOREIGN ASSETS
Igor Kolomoisky, wanted by US authorities, and his business partner Gennady Bogolyubov are known to own a number of companies in the United States, including ferroalloy, steel, tire and real estate companies. Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov also invested heavily in private estates in Switzerland, France, Israel and the UK263.
Oligarchs' activities during a full-scale war
Igor Kolomoisky himself and the Privat group, which he co-owns with Gennady Bogolyubov, played an important role in protecting Ukraine in 2014. Kolomoisky was the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region and, unlike Akhmetov, used his status and power to protect the region from pro-Russian separatists.
However, in 2022, Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov are very quiet. Back in March, Kolomoisky declined to say whether he helped Ukraine win in any way. Boris Filatov, mayor of Dnipro and a former business partner, complained about zero support from the oligarch.
Kolomoisky was reported to be physically in Ukraine, traveling between Dnipro and Bukovel. Bogolyubov, accompanied by lawyers, visited the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) in October, probably on PrivatBank or Ukrnafta cases. It seems that they are more interested in attacking the government in the courts, trying to return some of the nationalized PrivatBank assets owned by Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov.
