A decide started overseeing a trial – as a result of final a number of months – on Monday.
Mr Kolomoisky and Mr Bogolyubov are preventing the case.
This case considerations fraud on an epic scale
The trial was as a result of begin a yr in the past however legal professionals representing Mr Kolomoisky and Mr Bogolyubov persuaded Mr Justice Trower that it ought to be delayed due to the warfare in Ukraine.
Andrew Hunter KC, who’s representing Privatbank, informed Mr Justice Trower on Monday that “the fraud” contributed to the failure of the financial institution in 2016.
“This case concerns fraud on an epic scale, covered up by money laundering on a vast scale perpetrated against the bank in 2013-14 by its former owners, Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov,” he mentioned in a written case define.
“The fraud contributed to the failure of the bank in 2016 and its nationalisation in December of that year, following which an investigation led the bank – now under new ownership and management – to discover what had happened.
“That fraud – referred to in these proceedings as the ‘misappropriation’ – concerned the extraction of more than 1.9 billion US dollars from the bank, using a complex network of vehicles.”
He mentioned the financial institution was the most important in Ukraine.
Mr Hunter added: “There is a wealth of evidence to establish the misappropriation, and the defendants’ involvement in it.”
Neither Mr Kolomoisky nor Mr Bogolyubov have been on the listening to on Monday.
Mr Hunter informed the decide that the “two elephants in the case” weren’t “in the room”.
He steered that, had the 2 males answered questions on the listening to, they might have been “exposed” as “fraudsters, money launderers and liars”.
Mr Hunter mentioned Mr Kolomoisky was 60. He mentioned Mr Bogolyubov was 61 and had lived in London for nearly a decade.
Mr Hunter mentioned the financial institution had been the “jewel” within the businessmen’s “crown”.
He mentioned the financial institution’s case was that it had “suffered a loss of around 1.9 billion US dollars.
“(Mr Kolomoisky) eschews conventional means of communication and record keeping,” Mr Hunter informed the decide, in a written case define.
“He states that he does not use email (believing it to be unsafe and unreliable); restricts the volume of documents he creates, promptly disposing of any hard copy documents; and uses a secure telephone network to communicate with his inner circle known as ‘the Black’, in respect of which he claims to have no record.”
Mr Hunter added: “Like (Mr Kolomoisky) Mr Bogolyubov relied on his trusted agents to administer his affairs, keep records and/or hold his assets for him, usually on the basis of oral agreements.”
