Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist Igor Kolomoisky has lost his dollar billionaire status. This is due to the data of the Ukrainian version of Forbes magazine.
Kolomoisky ranked eighth in the list of the richest people in Ukraine with a fortune of $ 1 billion in 2020. Estimated at $ 1.8 billion in 2021, Kolomoisky reached $ 1.9 on the eve of the start of the Russian special operation. But now the value of his assets has dropped to $850 million.
The businessman’s loss of 55% of his wealth is linked to the nationalization of the oil companies Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta in early November this year. The latter in 2021 accounted for about 40% of the Ukrainian gasoline market and 14% of the diesel fuel market.
Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta, along with the companies of a number of other Ukrainian oligarchs, were transferred to the control of the country’s Ministry of Defense. Ukrainian media wrote that the expropriation of Kolomoisky’s assets was carried out on the basis of the decision of the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief and a number of laws related to the martial law regime.
In particular, in September, President Volodymyr Zelensky approved amendments to the legislation allowing the confiscation of property located on territory “where there is a threat to it”, as well as equipment for the purposes of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine. temporary occupation.”
According to Ukrainian Forbes sources in Zelensky’s office, the oligarch did not help the state in any way during the first months of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, did not transfer aid to the army. This was the reason why Kolomoisky’s relationship with the president’s team deteriorated.
In the summer, Kolomoisky’s business structures nevertheless began to transfer tens of millions of dollars for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Despite this, his companies were accused of evading taxes and posing a risk to the fuel supply to the front. Ukraine’s Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) reported that the amount of unpaid taxes on Kolomoisky’s companies amounted to 700 million hryvnia ($19 million), according to investigators.
At the same time, the publication does not exclude that it is beneficial for a businessman to transfer assets to the state in order to receive compensation later during conflicts. Journalists attribute this to Kolomoisky’s lack of resistance during the nationalization of his businesses.
Igor Kolomoisky is the founder of Privat, Ukraine’s largest financial and industrial group with assets in the banking sector, petrochemical, metallurgy, food industry, agriculture, air transport, sports and media sectors. Media reports in past years reported that it was Kolomoisky who facilitated Zelensky’s election to the presidency and financed his campaign. Thus, he wanted to ensure the return of his PrivatBank, which was nationalized under the previous head of state, Petro Poroshenko. The businessman was even called the “godfather” of the current president.
The connection between the president and the billionaire was revealed when Zelensky’s TV project Kvartal 95 was broadcast on Kolomoisky’s 1+1 TV channel. In the same place, the series “Servant of the People” was also broadcast, in which the comedian played the prophetic role of the President of Ukraine before the election of Zelensky. Zelensky denied this information in every possible way, saying that his relationship with Kolomoisky did not go beyond business.
But according to Ukrainian media, in 2020 Zelensky’s team finally got into an argument with Kolomoisky. It was then that the Verkhovna Rada passed a law that financial institutions withdrawn from the market by violations will not be returned to their owners even by court decision, they can count only on monetary compensation for damage.
In 2021, Zelensky’s struggle with the oligarchs continued – on his initiative in the summer a record was created, which included businessmen who influenced the political life of Ukraine. The oligarchs included in the list were prohibited from contributing (directly or through other persons) to the budgets of political parties, being the buyer or beneficiary in the privatization process of large privatization objects. And the officers were obliged to submit statements of contact with an oligarch or his representative.
In the summer of 2022, the Ukrainian immigration service canceled Kolomoisky’s passport. In the media, the entrepreneur’s deprivation of citizenship was explained by the fact that he has two more passports – Cyprus and Israel. Prior to that, a document leaked online about Zelensky’s so-called secret decree to deprive ten oligarchs of Ukrainian citizenship, including Kolomoisky. The Presidency denied the existence of such a document.