Ukrainian billionaire Igor Kolomoisky, formerly close to President Volodymyr Zelensky and who has since fallen from grace, is suspected of having ordered a murder, according to the country’s press and the prosecutor’s office. The attorney general’s office said a “well-known businessman” already accused of fraud was now suspected of “ordering a murder.”
The suspect in question is not named in the press release, and his face is slightly blurred in the attached photo, but the features that appear resemble those of Igor Kolomoisky. Ukrainian media confirmed that it was indeed the 61-year-old tycoon, one of the richest men in the country.
He is accused of having “ordered the murder of a law firm director” as part of “personal revenge,” according to the prosecutor’s office. To do this, the man would have hired “members of a gang”, he added. They allegedly attacked the director, “hitting and stabbing him in his vital organs,” but failed to kill him, according to authorities.
Ukrainian police, in another statement, claimed that the attack took place in 2003 in Feodosia, Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
In September, Igor Kolomoisky was detained in a case of fraud and money laundering. He is accused of fraud and illegal acquisition of property, according to the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU). Igor Kolomoisky supported the candidacy of Volodymyr Zelensky in 2019 and owned the television channel on which the Ukrainian president gained notoriety as a comedian.
