Ex-Privatbank Owner Leaves Ukraine Due to Possible Suspicion Notice

Ex-Privatbank owner Gennady Bogolyubov allegedly fled Ukraine to avoid being served a notice of suspicion and potential prosecution in the criminal embezzlement case involving the institution – Bogolyubov’s press service says he left the country legally.

There are two versions of why Bogolyubov left Ukraine: because of the potential notice of suspicion from the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine or because he left the country to see his children abroad, as reported by sources of Ukraine’s leading media outlet Ukrayinska Pravda on Sunday.

The media outlet speculated that the tycoon fled Ukraine due to a possible notice of suspicion from the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine, which is now investigating cases regarding embezzlement from Ukraine’s largest bank Privatbank.

Ukrayinska Pravda also stated that Bogolyubov fled the country with a fake passport, entering Poland with his Ukrainian passport.

Bogolyubov’s press office told Ukrayinska Pravda that he had left the country legally and that there was no ban on him to travel abroad. He is over 60 years old which means he is not of conscription age and has seven children abroad, with five of them under 18 years old.

A day after the news went public, the Ukrainian Economic Security Bureau and Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General announced they issued a notice of suspicion stating Bogolyubov crossed Ukraine’s border illegally.

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According to the press releases, he crossed the Ukrainian border with his Ukrainian passport, lost in 2022, collaborating with a border official on the Ukrainian side.

Bogolyubov crossed the border with Poland using his legal Ukrainian passport, according to law enforcement.

He and the border official were informed of the suspicion of illegal transportation of people across the state border, Bogolyubov was also informed of the suspicion of illegal possession of a passport.

Privatbank is now state-owned but was under Bogolyubov and Kolomoisky ownership until 2018. Back then, Ukraine nationalized PrivatBank since the ex-owners refused to recapitalize the bank on the central bank’s requirement.

The National Bank of Ukraine discovered that the entire corporate portfolio of Privatbank under ex-owners consisted of insider loans, issued to enterprises related to former shareholders, primarily Kolomoisky and his business partner Bogolyubov.

The bank’s ability to return deposits was jeopardized, so the state nationalized the bank and recapitalized it with Hr.155 billion ($3.80 billion) which was absent in the bank’s capital.

Kolomoisky, Bogolyubov’s business partner, has been in detention since September 2023 on suspicion of fraud.