The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv has changed the bail measure for Ihor Kolomoiskyi in the case of embezzlement of UAH 5.8 billion, setting it at UAH 3 billion 891 million, Suspilne reported on Friday evening.
Earlier it was reported that on the first suspicion Kolomoisky was granted bail in the amount of UAH 509 million, but yesterday Kolomoisky was informed of an additional suspicion of misappropriation of UAH 5.8 billion.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) and the Prosecutor General’s Office have uncovered new facts of criminal activity by the owner of a large financial and industrial group, Ihor Kolomoisky. Based on the SBU materials, Kolomoisky was served an additional notice of suspicion under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine
– Part 3 of Art. 27, Part 3 of Art. 28, Part 2 of Art. 200 (illegal actions with documents for transferring payment cards and other means of access to bank accounts, electronic money, equipment for their production)
– Art. 27(3), Art. 191(5) (misappropriation of property by abuse of office committed by an organized group on a particularly large scale);
– Part 3 of Art. 27, Part 3 of Art. 209 (legalization of the proceeds of crime).
According to the investigation, in the period from 2013 to 2014. Kolomoisky illegally seized UAH 5.8 billion. To do this, he created a criminal group consisting of employees of the bank in which he was a founder and shareholder.
During this period, members of this group allowed Kolomoisky to allegedly make systematic fictitious “cash deposits to the bank’s cash desk”, although in fact the bank did not receive any deposits.
According to the investigation, in total, this scheme allowed the defendant to receive UAH 5.8 billion, which was equivalent to more than $700 million at the time.
These fake “contributions” were then credited to Kolomoisky’s personal account and became real non-cash funds.
To legalize the virtual assets, Kolomoisky paid with them in his business activities. In particular, he gave them as loans and used them to pay off loans to companies under his control, withdrew them abroad, cashed them out and withdrew them from bank branches.
The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.
A set of measures is being taken to establish all the circumstances of the illegal activity and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Exports of major commodities in 2022-2023, million tonnes
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
In January-June this year, payment systems transferred $1.306 billion to Ukraine, with Western Union (USA) receiving the largest amount of funds – 48.6% of all transfers, the National Bank of Ukraine reported on Friday.
According to the report, MoneyGram (USA) took the second place in the market, increasing its share by 4.3 percentage points to 21.6% compared to May-December last year and overtaking PrivatMoney, whose share dropped from 20% to 13.5%.
In addition, the share of RIAs increased from 9.7% to 12.35%, and the share of Intelexpress increased from 2.7% to 3.04%.
According to the National Bank, a total of 5.72 million cross-border transfers were made, with the largest amount of funds coming to Ukraine from Italy (20.85%), the United States (17.74%), Israel (15.59%), Germany (8.61%) and Ireland (5.2%). The average amount of one such transfer to Ukraine was $228.
In May-December last year, 10.4 million transfers were made for $2.149 billion, with Western Union’s share at that time amounting to 49.5%, the NBU reminded.
The NovaPay payment system remained the leader in domestic money transfers in terms of systems, but the share of transfers made through it decreased from 45% in May-December 2022 to 35% in the first half of this year.
The Financial World system of Ukrainian Payment System LLC came in second place with a share of 15.6% (12.72% in 2022), while the LEO payment system, which held the top spot last year, had its registration revoked by the National Bank in March of this year.
The Moneycom payment system of Swift Guarantor LLC rose from 7th place in the ranking in May-December 2022 (2.51%) to the top three in the first half of 2023 with a share of 12.4%.
The positions in the ranking of the next three market participants have not changed: Ukrposhta is in fourth place in terms of the amount of transfers – 10.3% (12.22%), City 24 FC Phoenix – 7.93% (3.39%) and PrivatMoney PrivatBank – 5.65% (2.61%), followed by Platiservice – 5.15% (1.74%).
In terms of participants in the first half of the year, the share of NovaPay decreased to 35.58% (45.46%), Ukrposhta – to 10.29% (12.22%), while FC “Kontraktovyi Dom” increased to 13.26% (9.92%), and “Swift Guarantor” – to 18.71% (3.79%). The National Bank reminded that in early March it withdrew from the market Aibox Bank, which held 11.57% of the market in May-December last year.
According to the NBU, 390.2 million domestic transfers amounting to UAH 300.6 billion (or $8.221 billion in equivalent) were made in the first half of the year, with the average amount of one transfer within Ukraine amounting to UAH 770.
In May-December last year, transfers amounted to 446.35 million for UAH 292.6 billion.
It is noted that as of July 1 of this year, 35 money transfer systems were operating in the country, including 26 resident and 9 non-resident ones.
Zaporozhogneupor, Ukraine’s largest refractory products manufacturer and part of Metinvest Group, has put a modern overhead crane into operation.
According to the company’s press release, the modern lifting unit manufactured in Zaporizhzhia was put into operation at the finished goods warehouse of Zaporozhogneupor’s aluminosilicate shop. After static and dynamic tests, which confirmed the full compliance of the overhead crane with all requirements, it was put into operation.
Zaporozhogneupor spent approximately UAH 3 million to purchase the new crane. It is specified that the modern crane will significantly reduce the risk of damage to finished products.
“Zaporozhogneupor is Ukraine’s largest enterprise producing high-quality refractory products and materials. The company produces chamotte, mullite, mullite-silica, mullite-corundum, periclase, periclase-chromite products, silicon carbide electric heaters, and unmolded refractory materials. The company’s products are widely used in Ukraine, as well as in the CIS, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Import of goods in Jan-June 2023 in most important positions to previous 2022
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
The global grain harvest in 2023 could be at the level of the record-breaking 2021, FAO (the UN Food and Agriculture Organization) predicts.
According to its review, the estimate of the global harvest for this year in September compared to July (the review was not released in August) was reduced by 4 million tons. Despite this, the global harvest may be 0.9% higher than last year’s and amount to 2 billion 815 million tons, which corresponds to the record figure for 2021.
Thus, the forecast of wheat harvest was reduced by 2.2 million tons to 781.1 million tons. “It is expected that global wheat production will decrease by 2.6% compared to last year, but, nevertheless, it will be the second highest figure in the history of observations,” the review says. The largest decline was in production in Canada and the EU due to dry weather. The wheat harvest forecast in China has been lowered due to heavy rains in a number of key grain-producing regions. This decrease was partially offset by an increase in the forecast in the United States, India and Ukraine, “as indicated by the latest data provided by the governments of these countries on a more abundant harvest than previously expected.”
The forecast of feed grain harvest was lowered by 1.3 million tons to 1 billion 511 million tons, which is mainly due to a decrease in barley and oat harvests. However, this figure is 2.7% higher than last year. Thus, the estimate of barley harvest has been reduced by 2.9 million tons to 143.8 million tons (5.6% lower than last year). The oat harvest will be the lowest in 11 years – 23.1 million tons.
At the same time, corn production may reach a record high of 1 billion 215 million tons. The forecast has been raised by 3.6 million tons, mainly due to “richer than expected harvests in Brazil and Ukraine.” This will more than compensate for the lower forecast for corn harvest in the US and EU.
The FAO estimates this year’s rice harvest at 523.2 million tons. This is 500 thousand tons lower than the July forecast, but 1.1% higher than the harvest last season.
