Ihor Kolomoisky, a Ukrainian oligarch who at one point, was among the most powerful men in Ukraine, is now being held on suspicion of ordering a contract killing on a stubborn law firm director who refused to play along.
On Wednesday, May 8, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office reported that a “well-known businessman suspected of legalizing property obtained fraudulently, was notified of the suspicion of having committed another crime related to the organization of a contract killing.”
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Because it’s against the law to release suspects’ names, Kolomoisky’s name wasn’t mentioned – but Kyiv Post sources confirmed what would likely have been guessable from the pixelated photo released anyway – that the man in question, is the notorious oligarch known for having kept a shark tank in his office to intimidate business rivals.
Kolomoisky allegedly hired a gang to kill the man.
“Members of the gang attacked the director of one of the law firms, hitting him and stabbing him in his vital organs,” the Prosecutor’s General’s Office statement reads.
The new charges extend the detention of Kolomoisky – who has been in jail since last September, when he was first brought into custody for fraud and alleged money laundering from PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest bank, when he controlled it.
Yuriy Nikolov, a well-known Ukrainian investigative journalist, posted on Facebook, that the suspicion against Kolomoisky most likely goes back to 2003 – when the oligarch tried to gain control over the Dniprospetsstal steel plant in Zaporizhzhia.
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“Kolomoisky wanted it for himself, and for this, it was necessary to cancel the shareholders’ meeting,” Nikolov wrote. “But Serhii Karpenko, a lawyer who worked on that matter, refused do it. First his assistant was beaten. And then knife wounds inflicted on Karpenko himself.”
As reported by Ukrainska Pravda, the attack on Karpenko was in the Crimean city of Feodosia in August 2003, but that Karpenko’s wife managed to stop the gang from killing her husband.
The perpetrators were detained and sentenced to six to 12 years imprisonment, but it wasn’t until Wednesday, over 20 years later, that Kolomoisky was served with a notice of suspicion.
Kolomoisky has had a hand in Ukraine’s largest bank, largest refining company, largest airline, and some of its largest news stations.
Although Kolomoisky had been an early supporter of candidate Volodymyr Zelensky when he was running for president, Zelensky always promised that the oligarch would have no sway over him.
On Sept. 2, the day that Ukrainian television stations were awash with images of Kolomoisky, being led away in a blue tracksuit jacket by police, Zelensky’s only comment was: “I thank Ukrainian law enforcement officials for their resolve in bringing to a just outcome each and every one of the cases that have been hindered for decades.”
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