“PrivatBank” won an appeal in London against the former owners – Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov.
They must return the stolen 3 billion USD. Assets must be seized for Ukraine’s benefit.
The bank lost more; the Kroll agency investigation mentioned 5.5 billion USD, but apparently, the rest was lost due to the “brilliant” management by the previous owners…
And now evaluate the tragic irony…
In the attempt to regain control over the bank, related schemes, and overall influence in the country, Kolomoisky and associates invested in Zelensky’s campaign.
1+1, a joint asset of Kolomoisky with Medvedchuk’s family, as known from media, was relentlessly embedding in Ukrainians’ minds a scheme simple to the point of disgust:
– news: everything’s bad, bad, bad, borscht set, corruption, everything’s bad;
– Kvartal programs 24/7: mocking Poroshenko, mocking Parubiy, mocking Tomos-thermos, mocking decommunization March 8;
– in the evening: the fairy tale “Servant of the People” about a simple and honest guy…
This worked. It was broadcasted to 80% of the audience, supported by the channels of other oligarchs and Medvedchuk’s media projects and other pro-Russian figures. This ensured the rise of a myth that Ukrainians believed in because they wanted to believe that everything is simple, that wizards exist, and that all problems can be solved by simply wishing.
“Field of Miracles” on a national scale.
Kolomoisky in 2019 was giving interviews. About reconciliation with Russia. About correcting the imbalances of Ukrainianization. About “civil war”…
The return of the bank seemed, apparently, to Kolomoisky as a settled matter. But unfortunately for Kolomoisky, when starting his campaign of revenge, he forgot world history and classics. Because everything turned against him. After all, the country and the state are more than obligations of gratitude for bringing someone to power.
The bank remained state-owned. Corporate governance was preserved. And to prevent legal disputes, a separate law was adopted.
“Papa Carlo overestimated the obedience of the puppets,” as it was written then.
More to come. Kolomoisky is under arrest. The term is continuously extended.
And now – a legal defeat and the necessity to repay 3 billion. And on the horizon, there may still be questions from the American justice system, including the state of Delaware…
To a large extent, the business model from the 1990s faced a fiasco. Not “invest-earn-invest,” but “grab-take-deceive.”
The first model is sustainable, capable of withstanding over 100 fake “cases,” and even “sanctions,” as the experience of Poroshenko shows.
The second needs to move into the past along with all the accompanying material.
By the way, in 2021, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published a batch of offshore documents – Pandora papers. Among other things, it mentioned the transfer of funds by Kolomoisky’s structures to structures associated with Zelensky and other figures of the current government (albeit now “worked out”).
So in the context of returning the funds taken by Kolomoisky to the state, this story may also resurface.
The mills of history grind slowly but inexorably. And, as Kolomoisky himself liked to say, “at the exit – the checkout.” The time has come to pay.
