Almost in cinematic fashion, Ukrainian oligarch Hennadij Boholyubov apparently recently left for Vienna. An investigation has been opened in Ukraine into an illegal border crossing – the billionaire entrepreneur now wants to expose alleged blackmail.
Boholyubov is considered one of the richest Ukrainians – as Ukrainian media reports, he probably wants to avoid possible prosecution in his homeland with his “escape”. “The oligarch, accompanied by a close relative, left on June 24, 2024 by the Kiev-Chełm train (to Poland, ed.), although according to Ukrainian databases he did not cross the border,” according to a press release from the State Research Agency DBR.
Left the country with a foreign passport
Boholyubow used an invalid passport of a Ukrainian who was in the country and had not left Ukraine, the authority said, justifying the launch of an investigation into illegal border crossing and the appropriation of the passport in question.
There was also talk of the arrest of a border guard involved. Boholyubow’s subsequent entry into Poland was regularly done with his own passport, the online media “Ukrainskaya Prawda” reported, citing leaked documents.
Oligarch: “I don’t know where I’m going to live”
After a stay in Britain, where the 62-year-old entrepreneur visited his sick mother, he said on Tuesday that he had traveled to Vienna: “Today I flew to Vienna, but I don’t know where I will live,” Boholjubow said in a telephone interview with “Ukrainskaya Pravda”, published on Wednesday evening.
He denied that he had left the country with a false passport, but at the same time reported that he had already had problems leaving his homeland in 2023: when he tried to cross the border, his passport was confiscated and destroyed on suspicion of forgery, and last year during a new attempt. After initial problems, it finally worked. According to Ukrayinska Pravda, the head of the Ukrainian Border Guard Service in Kiev personally intervened on behalf of the oligarch.
Business partner already in custody
Boholyubov, estimated by the Ukrainian magazine “Forbes” at a value of one billion dollars in 2022, has been a long-standing comrade-in-arms of the formerly highly influential oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyj, whose television channel “1+1” played a major role in the election of Volodymyr Zelenskyy as president.
In 2019, there were also US suspicions of corruption against both entrepreneurs. Kolomoiskyj has been in Ukraine since September 2023 in connection with alleged economic crimes. The charges relate, among other things, to PrivatBank, which was forcefully nationalized in 2016 and previously belonged to 50 percent of both Kolomoiskyj and Boholjubow. The latter had not yet been officially investigated.
Boholyubov wants to unpack the alleged blackmail
“Mr. Boholyubov plans to publish information according to which he was offered that if he pays $ 100 million, no criminal proceedings will be initiated against him in Ukraine,” the weekly “Dzerkalo Tyzhnya” (zn.ua) wrote on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources. At the same time, the online outlet reported on a conflict with the office of President Zelensky, which had refused to issue the entrepreneur a diplomatic passport intended for him as a relative.
As the husband of diplomat Emine Japarova, Boholjubow actually wanted to move with her to Austria at the end of March. Former Deputy Foreign Minister Japarova was appointed by Zelensky as Ukraine’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna in February 2024, but has not yet taken up this position.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
