Filenews 9 May 2024
The suspect of attempted murder of a lawyer in 2003 is considered a 61-year-old billionaire, widely known for his activities in Cyprus.
The reason is the Ukrainian businessman, Igor Kolomoisky, who had obtained a Cypriot passport in 2010, while he had also been naturalized as an Israeli national. Yesterday's news about Kolomoisky has been widely reported on several well-known news networks such as Bloomberg, which cited Ukrainian media.
According to reports, 61-year-old Kolomoisky, who is already being held in a fraud case, was notified by Ukrainian authorities that he is now a suspect in the attempted murder of a lawyer two decades ago, and has been officially informed under the country's law.
The Attorney General's Office said in a statement on Tuesday, which did not name the suspect: "With the procedural guidance of the Attorney General, a well-known businessman suspected of money laundering through fraud has been informed of the existence of a reasonable suspicion of committing another crime related to the organization of a contract for murder.
The Ukrainian Police referred to the person as a "Ukrainian oligarch", who has been under arrest since September 2023 on suspicion of fraud. However, this time period coincides with the date of Kolomoisky's arrest. The online edition of Ukraine's Pravda newspaper has identified Kolomoisky as the suspect, citing sources.
According to the investigation team investigating the case, "the suspect, acting for reasons of personal revenge, ordered the murder of the director of one of the law firms because he did not comply with the requirement to annul and set aside decisions of the general meeting of shareholders of a public company. To carry out his criminal intentions, the suspect recruited members of a criminal group specialising in committing serious crimes, including physical violence against competitors."
Based on the investigative work, members of this criminal group attacked the director of this law firm, beating him and stabbing him in vital organs. "At the same time, the crime was not completed for reasons that have nothing to do with controlling the members of the criminal group," the investigators added.
It should be noted that the findings of the Investigative Committee on exceptional naturalizations in the Republic of Cyprus have more than 10 references to Kolomoiski. This committee, which investigated the Cyprus Investment Programme under the chairmanship of Myron Nicolatou, put under its microscope Kolomoiski's activities in Cyprus, his status as a major shareholder of Privat Bank and the conditions of his naturalization, concluding that he did not meet the conditions for acquiring Cypriot citizenship. It is also stated that he used his Cypriot passport to invest in other Member States of the European Union.
The Cypriot government was also informed in 2015 that Kolomoiski was accused of various unlawful acts. The report states, among other things: "The Ministry of Interior and the Council of Ministers appear to have been informed since 2015 regarding negative reports about this investor. A letter dated 20/02/2015 was found in the envelope, stamped 'Received by the Council of Ministers Secretariat' and stating that 'your citizen Igor Kolomoisky' is the mafia boss in the Ukraine'.
Despite attempts to revoke his citizenship, Kolomoiski appears in various media outlets as a holder of Cypriot citizenship.
