Kazan court arrests Ihor Kolomoysky in absentia for 800k-tonne oil theft

On 2 November, the Vakhtovsky Court in Kazan arrested two Ukrainian oligarchs — Ihor Kolomoysky and Gennady Bogolyubov — in absentia since the moment of extradition to the territory of Russia. Both of them are accused of stealing over 800,000 tonnes of oil, the court said.

According to the accusation, from December 2006 to October 2007 Kolomoysky, Bogolyubov, Ukrainian businessman Olexander Yaroslavsky and Board Chairman of Ukrtatnafta Pavel Ovcharenko appropriated 800,000 tonnes of oil for $400 million as part of a criminal group.Tatneft PJSC supplied it through pipelines via intermediate enterprises to reservoirs of Ukrtatnafta oil refinery located in Ukraine's Poltava Oblast.

According to the court, both oligarchs are on an international wanted list. In case their location is found, both can hide from pretrial investigation authorities and the court, exert pressure on witnesses or impede court proceedings in another way.

The court case became known in August 2021. It should be reminded that Tatneft participated in the foundation of Ukrtatnafta company. In 2007, Kolomoysky took control of it

Ukrtatnafta received a big batch of oil, after that, the criminal group suspended the Tatarstan managers and shareholders from work and kept the oil for themselves.

A commercial dispute between Ukraine and Tatneft is now in the courts. Kyiv can leave it by voluntarily obeying the decision of 2014 to pay $173 million as compensation for losing a share of Ukrtatnafta, Tatneft's press service claimed in February 2022.