Millions in embezzlement?
Raids on Ukrainian oligarchs and ex-ministers
2/1/2023 5:04 p.m
Once the oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi was a patron of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Now there is apparently a raid on his house: The reason is said to be the “embezzlement of petroleum products” in the millions. Ex-Interior Minister Avakov, on the other hand, is said to be dealing with the recent helicopter crash.
In Ukraine, state investigators have apparently searched the homes of oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi and ex-Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. According to media reports on Tuesday, Kolomojskyj is dealing with “embezzlement of petroleum products” worth the equivalent of 930 million euros. In the case of Awakow, the recent crash of a helicopter with its successor on board is said to have triggered the investigation. The raids have not yet been officially confirmed.
Kolomojskyj has been under investigation since last year. In the course of this, house searches were also carried out on the 59-year-old. In November, Kolomoiskyi’s stakes in parastatal oil and gas companies were confiscated because of the war with Russia. Pictures on Wednesday apparently showed the billionaire at his home next to an SBU official. Kolomojskyj was long considered a supporter of the current President Volodymyr Zelenskyj. He has recently distanced himself more and more from Kolomojskyj and, according to reports, also revoked his Ukrainian citizenship.
The investigation into Avakov is said to revolve around the helicopter crash in mid-January that killed Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky. “You looked at the contracts with Airbus from six years ago,” Monastyrskyj’s predecessor told the Internet newspaper Ukrajinska Pravda. The investigators acted correctly. The accident helicopter comes from the French manufacturer Airbus. The contracts for the purchase had been concluded under Avakov. The 59-year-old headed the ministry from 2014 to 2021.