The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv granted the prosecution's request to extend the term of detention of businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi until June 2, 2024, with an alternative bail of UAH 1 billion 960 million, UNN reports citing the BES.
Details
During the hearing, the businessman's defense emphasized Kolomoisky's health condition and insisted on transferring the case to the NABU, and asked the court to dismiss the prosecutor's motion in full.
In his turn, Serhiy Demianchuk, a prosecutor from the Prosecutor General's Office representing the prosecution, believes that at the moment, more lenient measures will not be able to prevent the existing risks.
According to him, these risks include the possibility of hiding from the pre-trial investigation and court. Demianchuk believes that Kolomoisky "may be planning to escape in order to avoid criminal liability" because the suspect "has actually lost his social connection with the state of Ukraine" because he is not a citizen of Ukraine, but a citizen of Cyprus and Israel.
We would like to add that Serhiy Demchenko, an MP from the Servant of the People party, said he was ready to bail Kolomoisky out.
Recall
On September 2 last year, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Bureau of Economic Security, and the Prosecutor General's Office served Kolomoisky with suspicions under Articles 190 and 209 of the Criminal Code: fraud and legalization (laundering) of the proceeds of crime. Subsequently, Kolomoisky received two more suspicions: withdrawal of a total of UAH 15 billion from PrivatBank.
On November 28, Kyiv's Shevchenkivskyi District Court extended the preventive measure for oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi in the form of detention with an alternative bail of UAH 3.7 billion until January 26. Later, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv left Ihor Kolomoiskyi in custody for another two months, until April 25. The court also reduced the bail by UAH 150 million to UAH 2.4 billion.
At the same time, the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court closed the proceedings in the case of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) against Ihor Kolomoisky, citing Lozovyi's "amendments.
For his part, the then head of the BES, Andrii Pashchuk, noted that as part of the investigation into the case against Ihor Kolomoiskyi, detectives of the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine questioned more than 100 people, conducted two examinations and scheduled two more.
"This is a very voluminous proceeding. More than 100 people have been questioned, 2 examinations have been conducted, and two more have been appointed. These are comprehensive engineering, technical and forensic economic examinations. The scheme being investigated by the BES is very complex, involving more than 10 business entities, including 4 commercial banks," Pashchuk said.
In his opinion, the investigation is complicated by the fact that the events under investigation are delayed in time, and the course of the investigation is negatively affected by a large number of manipulations, including media ones, around Kolomoisky.