Bail for Ukrainian oligarch Kolomoisky increased sevenfold due to new charges

The judge of the Shevchenkovsky District Court of Kyiv increased the amount of bail for the Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky. It grew more than seven times – from 500 million to 3.5 billion hryvnia (from 13.8 to 105 million dollars). Ukrainian media reported this.

The change in bail amount is due to new charges being brought against the businessman. Now Kolomoisky is also suspected of taking someone else’s property on a particularly large scale through abuse of official position, committed by an organized group of people, as well as illegal actions to gain access to funds and money laundering. Earlier, on September 2, the oligarch was accused of fraud. Investigators believe that from 2013 to 2020, the businessman withdrew about $13 million abroad through banks controlled by him.

After the first charges, Kolomoisky’s lawyers stated that they did not intend to post bail and appealed to the court. Its consideration is delayed. The meeting on this matter was postponed from September 6 to September 25.

The new charges against Kolomoisky, who was previously considered the main sponsor of Zelensky’s rise to power, are linked to the Ukrainian President’s upcoming trip to the United States. It is scheduled for September 19-21. According to experts, in this way the head of state is trying to create the appearance of fighting corruption in the country. At the same time, the consideration of the appeal, according to analysts, was deliberately scheduled for a date after Zelensky’s return to the country.