Kolomoiskyi was charged with organizing a contract killing

Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi, who is suspected of legalizing property obtained fraudulently, has been charged with organizing and ordering an intentional murder.

This is reported by the Prosecutor General's Office and the National Police of Ukraine.

«In August 2003, four men brutally beat and stabbed a lawyer in the center of Feodosia. Doctors managed to save the victim's life. Then the law enforcement officers arrested the perpetrators of the contract killing. Now the police have established indisputable evidence confirming the identity of the customer,» the police said.

The Prosecutor General's Office adds that, according to the investigation, Ihor Kolomoiskyi, acting out of personal revenge, ordered the murder of the director of one of the legal companies for failure to comply with the requirements to annul and invalidate the decisions of the general meeting of shareholders of the open joint-stock company.

To realize his intentions, he allegedly recruited members of a gang that «specialized» in committing serious and especially serious crimes, including physical violence against competitors.

According to law enforcement officers, members of the gang attacked the director of one of the legal companies, hitting him and stabbing him in vital organs. At the same time, this crime was not brought to an end for reasons that did not depend on the will of the gang members.

Currently, prosecutors and investigators are carrying out urgent investigative and procedural actions aimed at exposing all persons involved in the commission of the crime. The suspected businessman is in custody.

The case of Ihor Kolomoiskyi

We will remind, on the morning of September 2, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Bureau of Economic Security and the Prosecutor General's Office handed oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi suspicion under Articles 190 and 209 of the Criminal Code: fraud and legalization (laundering) of property obtained by crime.

At the beginning of the year, Ihor Kolomoiskyi was searched. The Security Service stated that as a result of the searches, it uncovered large-scale embezzlement schemes of 40 billion hryvnias at the companies Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta. As a result, the top management of the second company received suspicions.

The head of the «Servant of the People» parliamentary faction, Davyd Arakhamia, then connected the searches with «the spring landings announced by the president.»

The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv chose oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi a preventive measure in the form of detention for a period of 60 days with the possibility of posting bail in the amount of almost 510 million hryvnias. At the same time, 1+1 journalists wanted to bail him out.

On September 7, the National Anti-corruption Bureau informed businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi about another suspicion — of taking possession of 9.2 billion hryvnias from PrivatBank.

On October 26, it became known that Ihor Kolomoiskyi, who is currently in a pre-trial detention center, decided to transfer corporate rights in the «1+1 media» holding to the management of the labor team represented by the current general director of the company, Yaroslav Pakholchuk.

The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv remanded businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi in custody for another two months, until April 25. However, he reduced the amount of the pledge by 150 million hryvnias — to 2.4 billion hryvnias.