In a landmark ruling hailed as a critical moment in Ukraine’s fight against corruption, England’s High Court has ordered former oligarchs Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov to hand over nearly $2bn in assets. The decision, reported by the Financial Times, concludes an eight-year legal battle by PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest lender, to recover funds allegedly siphoned through fraudulent lending schemes. Mr Justice Trower found the two men “jointly and severally liable” for losses amounting to $1.9bn and confirmed the funds were channelled through sham companies in an elaborate scheme to launder money and evade Ukrainian capital controls.
The judgment represents a major victory for PrivatBank, which was nationalised in 2016 following the discovery of a $5.5bn hole in its balance sheet — a collapse that forced the Ukrainian state to spend the equivalent of 6% of its GDP to rescue the bank. The case also underscores pressure on Ukraine from international partners such as the IMF to recover misappropriated assets, especially as the country navigates ongoing challenges in strengthening its anti-corruption institutions. The ruling could help burnish the reformist credentials of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has faced recent criticism for undermining two independent anti-graft agencies — a move he has since pledged to reverse amid domestic and international backlash.
Kolomoisky, a former backer of Zelenskyy whose media empire supported the president’s rise to power, has been held in detention since 2023 on multiple charges of fraud and money laundering. In May, he was additionally accused of ordering the attempted murder of a lawyer during a 2003 corporate dispute, a claim his legal team has dismissed as baseless. Kolomoisky is also under U.S. sanctions and has been the subject of investigations by U.S. authorities for alleged financial crimes.
Though both Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov denied involvement in PrivatBank’s loan operations and did not appear in court to testify, the court found that companies linked to them — some registered in England and others in the British Virgin Islands — played a direct role in the fraudulent schemes and are partly liable for the losses. The original asset freeze of $2.5bn, imposed by the English courts in 2017, was upheld and strengthened by this final ruling.
PrivatBank chair Nils Melngailis welcomed the outcome as “a monumental victory for the bank and our shareholder — the government of Ukraine — as well as for the millions of Ukrainians who rely on PrivatBank every day.” The Financial Times notes that beyond its financial implications, the verdict marks a test case for Ukraine’s broader efforts to confront elite corruption and demonstrates the international legal system’s role in supporting those efforts.
