KYIV — Ukrainian legislation enforcement and safety officers searched the house of billionaire businessman Ihor Kolomoiskiy on Wednesday, transferring towards a determine as soon as seen as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s sponsor.
Listed below are some info about him.
You are reading: Who is Ihor Kolomoiskiy, the Ukrainian billionaire targeted in Zelenskyy’s anti-corruption purge?
Wealth
Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoiskiy, 59, is one in every of Ukraine’s wealthiest males. Forbes journal places his wealth at round US$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 often called 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.
Property
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Kolomoiskiy’s massive 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 nationalized by the federal government in 2016 as a part of a clean-up of the banking system.
However Kolomoiskiy’s belongings nonetheless embrace 1+1 Media Group, which controls one in every of 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 Zelenskyy’s profitable election marketing campaign in 2019 and his tv channel broadcast “Servant of the Folks,” the collection wherein Zelenskyy performed the position of president.
Since then, Kolomoiskiy seems to have fallen foul of a crackdown launched by Zelenskyy on rich businessmen often called “oligarchs” who wield outsized political affect. Zelenskyy has additionally sought to root out persistent corruption in Ukraine throughout Russia’s struggle on its neighbour.
Sanctions
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America imposed journey sanctions on Kolomoiskiy in 2021 “because of his involvement in vital corruption,” partly whereas serving as governor of Dnipropetrovsk.
U.S. authorities have additionally alleged that Kolomoiskiy and a enterprise accomplice laundered stolen funds by means of america. 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 wherein they think eight individuals of embezzling belongings and funds in 2015 from a state-controlled oil firm, Ukrnafta, previously partly owned by Kolomoiskiy.
The agency was one in every of a number of strategic firms taken over by the Ukrainian authorities late final yr to assist enhance the nation’s defence trade.
Kolomoiskiy has denied all fees of wrongdoing towards him.
