A company allegedly affiliated with notorious Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky made at least Hr 370 million ($13.2 million) since the beginning of 2021 reselling coal from state mines to the largest state energy-producing company Centerenergo, according to Bihus.Info investigative journalism outlet.
The company, Ukrvuglezbagachennya Group LLC, acted as an apparently unnecessary intermediary between state enterprises. It was buying coal from state mines for Hr 1,200 per ton and reselling it to Centerenergo for Hr 1,640, making hr 300-440 per ton, depending on whether it enriched the coal.
Centernergo was buying coal from the company at inflated prices because at the time it was managed by the people loyal to Kolomoisky, according to Bihus.Info.
This scheme ran for two months before the government replaced the administration of Centerenergo, reportedly controlled by Kolomoisky, in late February.
During his 1.5 years of control over Centerenergo, Kolomoisky enriched himself by Hr 3.5 billion ($125 million), Bihus.Info found out. According to the journalists, the oligarch used multiple schemes to embezzle money from the state company.
One of the schemes worked as follows: Companies affiliated with Kolomoisky bought electricity from Centrenergo below market rates and resold it for inflated prices. Another scheme operated in reverse: Kolomoisky’s companies bought cheap gas and coal and resold it, overpriced, to Centrenergo.
The Hr 370 million in question was the last portion of the money Kolomoisky’s businesses had the opportunity to embezzle before the management change.
Kolomoisky hasn’t responded to a request for comment by publication time.
Shady business
Ukrvuglezbagachenniya Group LLC, the company that allegedly embezzled Hr 370 million from Centrenergo, is registered in an apartment building in a Kyiv suburb. However, journalists only found a beauty salon at that address.
According to Bihus Info, the company’s owner lives in Cherkasy, 190 kilometers southeast of Kyiv. Her name is Anastasiya Yermolovich. She is 27 years old. Yermolovich is an artist and sells her paintings on social media.
Yermolovich also sells coal. She sold 400,000 tons to Centerenergo over two months, making a profit of Hr 120 million by exploiting its status as an intermediary.
This was not enough for Yermolovich, whose company decided not to pay back the Hr 250 million it owes to coal mines, according to Bihus.Info sources in the Energy Ministry and new management of Centerenergo.
The combined profit added up to Hr 370 million.
Links to Kolomoisky
Yermolovich is the daughter of the managers of a company called Kyiv Factory of Technical Papers, which belongs to Kolomoisky’s business partners, Oleksiy Buinis and Yevhen Krychevsky.
Bihus.Info unsuccessfully tried to contact Yermolovich to ask her about her company’s business and its alleged links to Kolomoisky.
However, the journalists managed to reach out to her father Serhiy Yermolovich. He didn’t act surprised when asked about the connection of the company of his daughter to Kolomoisky but refused to comment on it.
Editor’s Note: This report is part of the Investigative Hub project, within which the Kyiv Post monitors investigative reports in the Ukrainian media and brings them to the English-speaking audience, as well as produces original investigative stories. The project is supported by the National Endowment for Democracy.
