Photo: SERGEI CHUZAVKOV / AFP

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has notified a former beneficial owner of one of the country’s largest banks of suspicion in a fraud case involving more than Hr.100 million ($2.5 million), authorities said on Friday, May 1.

The SBU did not name the suspect, but multiple Ukrainian media reports identify him as Ihor Kolomoisky, the former owner of Ukraine’s PrivatBank, News.Az reports, citing Kyiv Post.

According to investigators, the suspect, together with associates, allegedly orchestrated a scheme in 2014 to misappropriate bank funds by issuing loans to affiliated companies without proper collateral or business purpose.

The funds were then transferred through a network of legal entities and individuals to disguise the transactions as legitimate financial operations, the SBU said.Prosecutors say part of the money ultimately ended up in the suspect’s personal accounts under the guise of contractual payments, including transfers amounting to hundreds of millions of hryvnia in December 2014.

The investigation found that the bank suffered losses exceeding Hr.100 million, though the final amount is still being clarified as part of the ongoing probe.

Authorities believe bank officials and managers of affiliated companies may also have been involved in the scheme.

The suspect has been charged under Part 4 of Article 190 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, which concerns large-scale fraud committed by an organized group and carries a potential sentence of up to 12 years in prison.The investigation is ongoing.

Ihor Kolomoisky has faced multiple criminal investigations in Ukraine in recent years. In September 2023, the SBU, the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine, and the Prosecutor General’s Office charged him with fraud and money laundering, alleging he legalized more than Hr.500 million ($11 million) between 2013 and 2020 through schemes involving affiliated banks. He was also named a suspect in separate cases involving the alleged misappropriation of billions of hryvnia from PrivatBank. A Kyiv court placed Kolomoisky in pretrial detention in September 2023, where he remains. His detention has since been extended multiple times, most recently in connection with a separate case in which he is accused of ordering a contract killing. Kolomoisky denies wrongdoing, and the cases remain under investigation.

In November 2025, the High Court of England and Wales also ordered Kolomoisky and his former PrivatBank co-owner Hennadiy Boholiubov to pay more than $3 billion in damages, interest, and legal costs to Ukraine’s state-owned PrivatBank.

News.Az 

By Leyla Şirinova