(BASEL, SWITZERLAND) The Bruno Manser Fonds, a Swiss NGO involved in forest conservation and anti-corruption, is calling on Swiss and other international authorities to freeze assets controlled by Ukrainian oligarch and alleged money-launderer Igor Kolomoisky. The call follows the disclosure of Kolomoisky’s ties to a major tourism development scheme in the Ukrainian Carpathians that is likely to have a devastating impact on the pristine Carpathian landscape in the Ukrainian districts of Ivano-Frankivsk and Transcarpathia.
According to the report “The Great Carpathian Land Grab” presented by a Swiss-Ukrainian NGO coalition today, controversial oligarch Igor Kolomoisky has intimate ties to a number of companies and individuals promoting three major ski resorts in environmentally sensitive areas in the Svydovets, Bystrytsia and Turbat regions in the Ukrainian Carpathians. The 2,800 hectare projects are threatening to put a unique mountain landscape, including high-conservation value forests, at risk of degradation or destruction with major long-term impacts on plant and animal life.
Kolomoisky and his UK-based business partner Gennady Bogolyubov are the beneficial owners of Skorzonera LLC, a key player in the ski resort plans. The current projects are being developed under a lack of transparency. They benefit from Ukraine’s martial law regime that limits public participation and accountability. The new report states that, given the lack of transparency and the highly controversial track record of the people involved, there is a high risk of corruption in the approval process for the Svydovets, Bystrytsia and Turbat ski resorts.
Igor Kolomoisky’s businesses are currently under investigation by United States, UK, Ukrainian and Swiss authorities. In February 2020, the Swiss Attorney General’s office opened an investigation against Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov for suspected money-laundering via Swiss banks. Also in 2020, United States authorities sued in Miami federal court to forfeit allegedly laundered assets in Dallas, TX, Louisville, KY. and Cleveland, OH. In 2021, the U.S. State Department found that Kolomoisky was involved as a regional governor “in corrupt acts that undermined rule of law and the Ukrainian public’s faith in their government’s democratic institutions and public processes, including using his political influence and official power for his personal benefit.”
Please read the report here.