Igor Kolomoisky siphoned UAH 1.13 billion from Ukrenergo through United Energy and Alliance Bank

Over the past few weeks, judges of the Kyiv Economic Court and the Northern Economic Court of Appeal have actually frozen Ukrenergo’s chances of returning UAH 1.13 billion (€26.7 million). This is part of the funds that United Energy, affiliated with Igor Kolomoisky, received from the resale of electricity without paying the state at the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The company’s debt had to be covered by the guarantor – Alliance Bank. However, he also refused to fulfill his obligations", – Cartwright said.

He noted that this amount is equivalent to the cost of 14 thousand Mavic drones, 57 thousand FPV drones or 7 thousand 155 mm shells, which are urgently required by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And this amount is now "hanging in the air".

"At the same time, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), which investigated the case, was not involved as a party to the legal proceedings", – the journalist added.

He recalled that in early January 2024, NABU and SAPO announced the completion of a scheme involving Ukrenergo and the trading company United Energy

"Despite the fact that all participants are known and their participation in the scheme is obvious, a number of trials in this criminal case give reason to assume that corrupt officials will remain unharmed", – he wrote.

In the fall of 2021, Alliance Bank issued a guarantee to United Energy, affiliated with Igor Kolomoisky, – Bank guaranteed payment for electricity purchased from Ukrenergo. This allowed the company to actually receive electricity on credit, and the head of the Ukrenergo department, who should have stopped such energy supply taking into account debts, but did not do so, ignored the problems of United Energy, the author added.

As a result, Kolomoisky’s company resold the electricity received from Ukrenergo, withdrawing money to a related company. Taking into account the fines, the total debt of this counterparty amounted to UAH 1.7 billion, from which Ukrenergo has already managed to recover only UAH 600 million, – Cartwright wrote.

In the case being conducted by NABU, an employee of Ukrenergo, chairman of the board of the bank and Kolomoisky’s partner Mikhail Kiperman, who is responsible for United Energy, has been put on the wanted list. Detectives noted that all three people were actually involved in the conspiracy.

"However, a criminal case with such a plot – is not a court decision yet". The High Anti-Corruption Court will have to review this story and give a fair verdict to the participants. Ukrenergo promptly submitted a number of the bank’s demands to fulfill guarantee obligations for United Energy’s debts. The financial institution fulfilled them only partially. Now, as part of an economic dispute, the state-owned company is trying to recover from the guarantor bank funds due to the state in the amount of UAH 1.13 billion, which the company actually lent and did not return. However, the bank refuses to answer for these debts, the journalist said.

Before being put on the wanted list, the head of the bank’s board, Yulia Frolova, stated that Ukrenergo’s demands were drawn up improperly and therefore could not be satisfied. Ukrenergo denies this, since the bank still satisfied some of the formulated requirements. Now, in two parallel lawsuits, Alliance Bank defends its right not to pay the debt to Kolomoisky’s company.

"In December 2022, the Kyiv Economic Court, by a ruling in case №910/3268/22, ordered the institution to fulfill guarantee obligations for UAH 1.13 billion, while the bank appealed this decision. Court hearings in the Northern Court of Appeal in violation of all procedural deadlines have been going on for more than a year. According to media reports, the judges were sick, were on sick leave, on vacation, recused themselves, citing media attention to the case, postponed the court hearing and could not make a decision on the merits, – the author wrote.

On April 25, 2024, the Court of Appeals judges issued a stay order. The reason was another decision made a week earlier by the Kyiv Economic Court, within the framework of which Alliance Bank had already decided to appeal the legality of the bank guarantee itself. In case №910/1479/23, the judge declared the guarantee unenforceable. Now Ukrenergo will be forced to appeal this decision and will not return to the stopped proceedings in the main case until all stages are completed.

As of September 1, 2021, the bank’s regulatory capital amounted to UAH 610 million, which means that the guarantee under the contract with United Energy could not exceed UAH 152 million, or 25% of the regulatory capital. However, taking into account the agreements between the company and the bank, the guarantee amount reached almost UAH 1.9 billion, which is 12.5 times more than the standard figure.

"Nevertheless, Alliance Bank issued other guarantees (as of September 2023 they exceeded UAH 7 billion) and is involved in a number of court cases for refusing to satisfy the guarantee claims of creditors, in particular the Ministry of Defense, the National Social Insurance Fund of Ukraine, the Operator of the gas transportation system of Ukraine, NJSC "Naftogaz" Trading" and the Administration of Sea Ports of Ukraine. In addition, the bank appears in the materials of criminal proceedings №4201700000000445 dated February 17, 2017, which indicate that through the bank in 2017–2018, the management of Dmitry Firtash’s regional gas companies could illegally withdraw money, which led to a significant increase in debt to Naftogaz, – wrote Cartwright.

He emphasized that invalidating guarantees in all cases of – "is not the best way to position a financial institution on the market".

"Unless that’s the essence of the business model. But then the National Bank, like NABU, should take a closer look at this in order to minimize the risks of depositors, as well as businesses still working with the financial institution, – the author of the article summarized