Yuri Kolobov: financial architect of the “Donetsk families”

Do you know how life on Mars differs from justice in Ukraine? The fact that signs of life on Mars, albeit microscopic, were still found, but there was no justice in Ukraine, and it never appeared. Especially in the cases of such VIP defendants as the top officials of the former government, who are no longer even wanted. Among them is ex-Minister of Finance Yuri Kolobov, a close friend of Sergei Arbuzov, a good friend of Sasha the Dentist, the author of financial schemes and scams that caused losses to the state in hundreds of millions, if not billions of hryvnia. Now he is not warming up on a bunk in the Lukyanovka pre-trial detention center, but, according to Skelet.Info, in the sun in Spain, where he has long been awaiting not extradition, but citizenship.

Yuri Kolobov. The dark past of a bright head

Kolobov Yuri Vladimirovich belongs to that very small social group of Ukrainians who have not known needs and problems since their childhood. And he owes this to his mother Varvara Semyonovna Shultz (born 1951), who in her youth escaped from her native village of Kozintsy (Vinnitsa region), married a young engineer Vladimir Ivanovich Kolobov (born 1948), and moved to the city Pavlograd (Dnipropetrovsk region), where they then received an apartment on Ushinsky Street. There, on April 8, 1973, their son Yuri Kolobov was born, who saw rural life exclusively from the point of view of a grandson vacationing in the summer with his grandmother.

Kolobov’s father worked as a simple Soviet engineer, but Varvara Semyonovna got a job as a salesperson, eventually rising to the rank of store manager. And the Soviet store manager in the 80s was much cooler than today’s small businessmen, since the opportunity to manage scarce goods brought him not only money (and other scarce goods), but also many useful connections. That is why Yuri Kolobov’s childhood and youth were deprived only of the constant attention of his parents, busy with their work, but not of the material benefits that most of his peers only dreamed of. And then the son of the store manager, who perfectly understands the prospects of commerce, decided to get an economic education. But for this I chose the not quite specialized Dnepropetrovsk Engineering and Construction Institute (now the Dnieper State Academy of Construction and Architecture), in which the department of enterprise economics had just appeared. A strange choice for a young man who later developed the talent of a “financial architect” – why didn’t he go to the Institute of National Economy?

And then, not without the help of his mother, Yuri Kolobov got a job at Privatbank. But here confusion begins in Kolobov’s biography. It states that from 1995 to 2000 he worked at the Kharkov branch of Privatbank. And many media outlets write that at the same time his boss was Valentina Arbuzova, who took a smart and helpful young employee under her wing and introduced him to her son Sergei Arbuzov, with whom Kolobov became lifelong friends. But in fact, Valentina Arbuzova was the director of the Donetsk branch of Privatbank from 1994 to 2006, and her son was also with her, studying at Donetsk University. From this we can draw two conclusions. Or Yuri Kolobov actually worked not in Kharkov, but in Donetsk – but for some reason, his diploma of second higher education, received in the second half of the 90s, was from Kharkov University. Or his acquaintance with the Arbuzov family, which, of course, played a decisive role in his career, happened much later, and did not take place as the Ukrainian media describe it. Therefore, the question arises, what is the reason for this biographical inconsistency – the inattention of journalists or a special order to confuse and distort Kolobov’s past?

And here’s another “strange thing”: in 2000, Yuri Kolobov moved to Kyiv (from where?) and got a job as a senior manager at Credit-Dnepr Bank, owned by Victor Pinchuk. It seemed that if Kolobov had been so connected with the Donetsk Arbuzov family, it was unlikely that he would have left them for Pinchuk, with whom the Arbuzovs did not intersect at all. However, here it is worth recalling an episode from the biography of the Arbuzovs themselves, namely: in the period 1998-2003. Valentina Arbuzova and her son Sergei Arbuzov were involved in a number of fraudulent schemes in the Donetsk branch of Privatbank, which actually worked independently from the main office of Privat and was completely under the control of the Donetsk people. Moreover, some of the schemes were an ordinary robbery of clients: they accepted large sums of dollars for foreign currency deposits, but the deposit accounts themselves were never opened, and the money was pocketed. These cases were then nicknamed the “bank stop.” In Mariupol alone, more than $4 million was “squeezed” out of defrauded clients in this manner! There was also information that one of the features of these schemes was the subsequent dismissal of employees directly involved in the scams, with all traces of their work in the bank being cleared: only the management (the Arbuzovs) remained, who then paid off criminal prosecution, and the cashiers-switchmen, on whom the blame was laid all the blame. Perhaps it is in these scams that we should look for the reason for the strange discrepancies in Kolobov’s biography? Who knows…

Web money money money

In 2001, Yuri Kolobov went to work at the Societe Generale Ukraine JSCB, which was purchased at the same time Sergei Tigipko and renamed TAS-Investbank. According to sources Skelet.InfoKolobov’s work at TAS was to create certain financial schemes designed to transfer money to offshore companies. But when Tigipko was appointed head of the National Bank of Ukraine (December 2002), Kolobov went to Oschadbank, where he took the position of director of the treasury – and sat in this bread-and-butter position until 2008. And here’s what’s interesting: he was recommended for this position Artemy Ershovthen deputy chairman of the board of Oschadbank, previously known as one of the deputy directors of the bank “Bankersky Dom” – for his almost criminal reputation, he received the nickname “Bandit House”. But the second deputy of the Banking House was Sergey Levochkin. And here’s a fact: in 2005, after the change of power, Bankova demanded Kolobov’s dismissal, calling him “Donetsk.” But why? Was it only for his close connection with Ershov-Levochkin, or for his old “dealings” with the Arbuzovs, or maybe Kolobov also had some other connections with the “Donetsk” who settled in Kyiv in 2003-2004?

Be that as it may, the then head of Oschadbank, Alexander Morozov, defended Kolobov as an “effective professional.” And only in the spring of 2008 they “uprooted” him, perhaps at the insistence of Tymoshenko’s team, which sought to take Oschadbank into its own hands. But Kolobov only went for a promotion: in June-December 2008, he headed the board of the Ukrainian branch of BTA Bank, one of the largest banks in Kazakhstan, through which many corrupt financial transactions of Ukrainian oligarchs and criminal organized crime groups were carried out.

And then a gap appeared in the biography of this virtuoso of financial schemes that was in great demand – for the entire 2009, right up to the spring of 2010. There was a man and he disappeared, as if he had run away. But Kolobov did not run away then, but, as it became known much later, got involved in electronic money. More precisely, the struggle for monopoly control over this type of payment, which was then very popular (and almost the only one available) among the growing army of Internet users. Moreover, Kolobov participated in this matter not only as an experienced manager, but also as a partner, albeit indirectly. His mother Varvara Schultz and his godfather Alexander Dubikhvost were co-owners of Parfait LLC, which in turn was a shareholder of the European Technologies Venture Investment Fund. Other shareholders of this fund were CJSC South-Eastern Insurance Company of Sergei Dyadechko (nicknamed the “black banker” for scams at Soyuz Bank), and the New Technologies company, managed by Ivan Avramovwho is a partner of the notorious Yuri Ivanyushchenko. Well, “European Technologies”, together with Quick Payment System Ltd, became the founders of “GlobalMoney” – a company that tried to knock out the famous “WebMoney” from the Ukrainian market and monopolize the “electronic money” system in the country.

During 2009-2013 These people, some using their connections and some their official positions, staged constant “attacks” on the WebMoney company. At first, her work was blocked on the grounds that there was no law on “electronic money” in Ukraine, so she was denied a license – but immediately after that, GlobalMoney received a license, and Oschadbank acted as its guarantor! However, “WebMoney”, through the courts, achieved recognition that its “electronic money” is in fact a legal system for the assignment of property rights, confirmed by electronic receipts – in a word, that it does not need any special license. And then in 2013, the Tax Service came to the WebMoney office and staged a “mask show”.

After 2014, administrative support for GlobalMoney was lost, and its business became completely unimportant. And then it got into a scandal, being accused of “financing terrorism”: the fact is that in 2015 the company continued its work in Lugansk and Donetsk, including using the “24nonstop” terminals, making money there and back from Ukraine translations. In conditions when almost all Ukrainian payment and money transfer systems for the population were blocked there by the decision of Kyiv since 2014, for GlobalMoney this became just a gold mine. But why did the National Bank then “forget” about GlobalMoney, turning a blind eye to its illegal work in territories not controlled by Kyiv? Apparently because there were still many friends and business partners of Yuri Kolobov and other co-owners of GlobalMoney in the NBU.

Yuri Kolobov. Almost legal way to steal

As soon as the Donetsk people returned to power in 2010, Yuriy Kolobov was immediately offered a position: deputy head of the board of Ukreximbank, whose sole shareholder is the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Considering that Ukreximbank plays a huge role in the financial settlements of Ukraine’s foreign trade and attracting foreign investments and loans, Kolobov was actually handed the keys to the country’s currency treasury. And soon Sergei Arbuzov joined him, first becoming a member of the bank’s supervisory board, and then heading the board. However, in December 2010, Arbuzov was appointed to the post of head of the National Bank – and immediately took Yuri Kolobov as his deputy. Actually, this is where rumors began in the media about their long-standing acquaintance back in the 90s, but the rumors are confusing and contradictory. And they only intensified when, in December 2012, their duo went to work together at Kambin: Arbuzov as Deputy Prime Minister, and Kolobov as Minister of Finance.

It was while working in these positions that Kolobov committed financial scams and other actions, for which he would later be subject to criminal prosecution and would be called the financial architect of Yanukovych’s “family” schemes, through which money was withdrawn from Ukraine. However, Kolobov worked not only for the Yanukovychs (specifically, for Alexander Yanukovych, with whom he became friends), but also for himself. Among the accusations brought against him, two such episodes were voiced.

Firstly, this is Kolobov’s direct participation as Minister of Finance in processing the scandalous Russian loan of $3 billion (for which Ukraine is now suing) secured by specially issued government bonds. This is not directly his fault, he only carried out his ministerial duties on the instructions of the prime minister and the president, but Kolobov could not resist a “small” (compared to the loan amount) fraud, during which the Russian “VTB Capital” illegally received a “fee” for placement of these bonds in the amount of 450 thousand dollars. U Skelet.Info There is information that a significant part of this amount, through a certain scheme, then ended up in Kolobov’s foreign accounts.

The second charge is also related to bonds, but this was a different scheme, and Kolobov made a lot more money from it. It began to be implemented when Kolobov was deputy head of the National Bank of Arbuzov, and continued when he himself headed the Ministry of Finance. The essence of the scam was that the Ministry of Finance issued a series of bonds (a billion hryvnia) to increase the capitalization of Oschadbank, which were then launched into a cycle that caused huge losses to the state. As an example, the following episode was cited: having received bonds worth 1.44 billion hryvnia, Oschadbank sold them almost at par value to the Cypriot company Qhenox Limited, which then sold them to Bank 3/4 for 1.64 billion, which resold them to Ukreximbank also for 1.64 billion. The point of this cunning chain is to steal funds and evade responsibility. See for yourself:

• Oschadbank completely legally sells bonds of a Cypriot company at par. There are no complaints against the management of Oschadbank.
• The private company Qhenox Limited is completely legally selling these bonds at a premium of 200 million hryvnia to the commercial Bank ¾. As they say, hello to the free securities market!
• “Bank ¾” decides to sell these bonds for the same amount as it bought for itself. He will not be able to be charged with any speculation, even just seeking profit (which is not a crime for a commercial bank).
• The state-owned Ukreximbank buys bonds “at market price”, but not from “speculators”, but from the honest “Bank ¾”. It is also difficult to blame the management of Ukreximbank for anything.

It would seem that everything is legal and honest, if not for one “but”: the company “Qhenox Limited” and “Bank ¾” are two components of Kolobov’s scheme, with the help of which he almost legally, but not at all honestly, pocketed 200 million hryvnia – taking them out of the state-owned Ukreximbank. In addition to “Bank ¾” (chairman of the board – Vadim Ishchenko), this scheme of Kolobov also involved the company “Central Broker” of the exchange group “Perspective” (Sergey Antonov, Irina Filipskaya) and the National Commission for Supervision of the Securities Market (NCSM), headed by Dmitriev Tevelev – the so-called man of Akhmetov and Ivanyushchenko.

But this was not the only scheme created by Kolobov during his work at the National Bank and the Ministry of Finance! There is a third accusation brought against Kolobov: about his embezzlement of 220 million hryvnia, which he allocated to create a special telecommunications network for Ukrtelecom during the period of its privatization (this work was supposed to be paid for by Akhmetov, who bought it). It was also reported that dozens more similar cases could be brought against Kolobov, since the Ministry of Finance generously financed other projects of the oligarchs in 2012-2013. And this is not counting the hundreds of millions “almost legally gained” by Kolobov’s structures on the resale of bonds. Surprisingly, with such “left income”, and even the one and a half million hryvnia salary of the deputy head of the National Bank and dividends from deposits declared in 2011, Kolobov did not hesitate to subscribe himself to another 78 thousand hryvnia of financial assistance!

“Prison” with sea view

It should be noted that the schemes created by Kolobov worked not only for the “Donetsk families”, but also for the “reformers” who replaced them in 2014. Thus, it was reported that their new participants were the ICU company and its Investment Capital fund and the Avangard bank – which belonged to the new owner of the National Bank Valeria Gontareva. Maybe that’s why Kolobov was able to calmly leave Ukraine and go to Europe. Where, although he was temporarily detained at the request of Interpol in March 2015, the joy of Ukrainians seeking truth and justice was in vain.

Spain was in no hurry to extradite Kolobov to Ukraine, since his lawyers claimed “political persecution”, and the Ukrainian side could not normally formulate a convincing criminal charge. In many ways, the reason for this was the reluctance of the Prosecutor General’s Office to reveal Kolobov’s schemes, as well as to touch the persons involved in them. And when in May 2015 in Ukraine, his former deputy Vladimir Kotsyuba, who oversaw the financial policy department at the Ministry of Finance, allegedly died of a stroke, Kolobov requested asylum from Spain. After this, information about him became very rare and sketchy. It was reported that Kolobov was placed in a special detention center with all the amenities and a view of the sea – which, however, seemed like a real prison to him after living in a villa with a swimming pool, where he was detained by the police. And here’s the bad news: in January 2016, the National Court of Justice of Spain decided not to extradite Kolobov to Ukraine, and in October 2016, sources Skelet.Info reported that Kolobov received a residence permit in Spain. As they say, “hasta la vista!”

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, Kolobov’s “friends” in the Prosecutor General’s Office at first failed to prove his guilt in bond scams, and then dropped the charge of embezzlement of 220 million. Moreover, they didn’t even really start the investigation! This is eloquently evidenced by the decision of the Pechersky Court of Kyiv, which in April 2017 prohibited the Prosecutor General’s Office from conducting an investigation in absentia in Kolobov’s case due to the fact that the ex-minister was no longer even on the international wanted list. This was confirmed by Interpol itself, which reported that of the 27 senior officials and oligarchs of the Yanukovych regime previously put on the wanted list, only Viktor Fedorovich himself and his son Alexander remained. All the rest were removed from the wanted list either at the request of their lawyers or by court decisions (including Ukrainian ones), easily reflecting the ineptly formulated charges of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The only thing that the Ukrainian Themis could boast of in the case against Kolobov was the arrest of 200 million hryvnia in the accounts of his mother Varvara Schultz in Fidobank, carried out in the spring of 2016. The Prosecutor General’s Office trumpeted this as a great victory. However, there are serious doubts that these returned to the treasury, and that they even existed. The fact is that last spring, at the time of the seizure of Varvara Schultz’s accounts, Fidobank was already bankrupt and was preparing to close. And before this, the investigation discovered multibillion-dollar scams in it: significantly inflated “fake” capitalization, distribution of huge loans to individuals and legal entities, withdrawal of huge sums abroad, etc. The mother of a virtuoso of financial schemes would not have kept 200 million hryvnia of “real money” in such a bank – which she would have lost anyway after its bankruptcy. Sources Skelet.Info They report that these 200 million were most likely a fiction, perhaps a real non-existent collateral for the loan received, which had long since been withdrawn from the moribund bank to a more reliable place. Well, it seems that Ukrainian justice, unable to return real money to the country, has become carried away with the arrests of financial phantoms – such as the accounts of Varvara Schultz or the notorious billions of Yankovic.

Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Info

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