Media: Kolomoisky’s associate Boholiubov used forged documents to leave Ukraine

A customer uses an automated teller machine (ATM) at a PrivatBank bank branch in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022. (Christopher Occhicone/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Ukrainian billionaire Hennadii Boholiubov, who formerly owned Ukrainian bank PrivatBank alongside oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, recently left Ukraine under forged documents, anonymous sources at the Prosecutor General's Office told the Ukrainska Pravda media outlet.

According to the outlet, Boholiubov, 62, allegedly left Ukraine on June 24 after Ukraine's Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) prepared charges against him.

Boholiubov left Ukraine by train from Kyiv to the Polish border town of Chelm with forged documents and entered Poland with his own, the outlet reported. He is currently residing in Austria, according to the report.

The border guard who let Boholiubov out of the country was reportedly detained on June 6.

The financial and industrial group Privat, of which Boholiubov and Kolomoisky are the co-owners, operated the PrivatBank from its founding in 1992 until 2016.

In 2016, the bank was nationalized when it was found to have an over $5.5 billion hole in its ledger, allegedly moved out by its former owners Kolomoisky and Boholiubov via fraudulent schemes.

The former owners appealed to the Supreme Court against the government's decision but lost their case in July 2022.

Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine's most infamous business tycoons, was arrested on Sept. 2, 2023, for alleged fraud and money laundering related to his oil and gas holdings. His bail was initially set at Hr 509 million (now $13.2 million).

Read also: Oligarch Kolomoisky is behind bars. How did he get there and can he find a way out?