Could Gennady Bogolyubov hide a 5-star hotel in a stash?

A number of companies and their executives closely associated with Igor Kolomoisky and Gennady Bogolyubov are co-owners and managers of the Croatian Radisson Blu Resort & Spa, Split.

As the media found out, this hotel is not included in the list of property included by the London court in the so-called Freezing Order to seize the assets of Kolomoisky-Bogolyubov. Although by all indications it should.

Dark affairs on the shore of the blue sea

When businessman Gennady Bogolyubov fled abroad in July 2024 using someone else’s documents, he chose Austria as his target country. Although he could well settle in Croatia, where, as it turns out, he may have a hidden secret asset - the luxurious 5-star Radisson Blu Resort & Spa hotel in the city of Split, on the shores of the Adriatic Sea.

According to Croatian monitoring systems and local press, the hotel is owned and operated by HOTEL SPLIT dd.

In turn, the owners of HOTEL SPLIT dd are a number of shareholders, the main of which are:

– AEDRO FINANCE LTD company, with a share of 68.84%. This is an offshore in Belize, which, as is known, tightly hides the owners of companies registered there. It is there that Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov, the Surkises and other numerous representatives of the Ukrainian establishment like to register their “gaskets”. According to the Croatian press, this company is the main creditor of the hotel.

– MEMENTO doo company, Zagreb, Croatia, owner of 26.84% of the hotel.

– The company is OLBIA INVESTMENTS LIMITED, owning 2.8% of the hotel. This is also an offshore, this time in Cyprus. Telegraph managed to obtain information about him (more on that below).

To understand, the last two companies are essentially the same thing, because OLBIA INVESTMENTS LIMITED is the sole owner of MEMENTO doo

At the same time, the owner of the majority share of OLBIA INVESTMENTS LIMITED itself is again the Cypriot MERVINOX HOLDING LTD.

And now about how the hotel owners may be connected with Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov.

So, as you know, Privatbank has a list of more than 300 individuals and legal entities who were associated with it and at the same time owed and were overdue in paying debts to it. This list is headed, as usual, by Bogolyubov and Kolomoisky, but besides them there is a 7-page list of companies primarily affiliated with them. Among such companies is OLBIA INVESTMENTS LTD, co-owner of the hotel.

Second point. As noted in Croatian sources, the president of the supervisory board of HOTEL SPLIT dd through MEMENTO doo and OLBIA INVESTMENTS LIMITED is a certain Sergey Distergov, a businessman of Ukrainian origin, who is a citizen of Austria and has business both in Ukraine and abroad

In addition, according to the data, Distergov is also a co-owner of the Cypriot MERVINOX HOLDING LTD (owner of OLBIA INVESTMENTS LTD from the PrivatBank list).

The Croatian press writes that Distergov is not only the head of the supervisory board of the company that owns the hotel, but also a close friend of Grigory Surkis (who, we recall, is also involved in the schemes around Privat). Ukrainian media, in turn, note that Sergey Distergov is Gennady Bogolyubov’s man.

Another connection to Bogolyubov-Kolomoisky with the above-mentioned companies can be traced through their leadership. Thus, the director of the company MERVINOX HOLDING LTD (co-owner of the company OLBIA INVESTMENTS LTD, which manages and owns the hotel) is a certain Marianna Giannakou (Greek - Μαριαννα Γιαννακου, English - Marianna Giannakou).

She also led (or still runs) a number of other companies from the Bogolyubov-Kolomoisky orbit. For example, Giannaku was the manager of shares of PJSC “Kharkiv Fat Plant” (from Kolomoisky’s orbit), director of OPTIMUSAGRO HOLDING LTD (Zaporozhye creamery, also in Kolomoisky’s circle of interests) and Sunaltezza Consulting Ltd (these are already Bogolyubov’s assets), etc.

Did the British look?

So what do we get from all this? And we have a wonderful modern hotel from the Radisson Blu chain in one of the most interesting corners of Croatia, which earns good money, recently went from 4-star to 5-star, has its own beaches, spa pools and other complete stuffing.

In such a hotel, if you wish, you can have a pleasant rest (unless, of course, you are in prison, but went abroad using someone else’s documents). Or even hide (if you can’t stand all the claims of the Ukrainian authorities in the PrivatBank case). Especially when the companies that own this hotel are affiliated with you. The people who run these companies are in your wallet. And even the fact that the High Court of England limited your expenses by setting the ceiling at a measly 20 thousand pounds a week is nothing. After all, this hotel is run by your man, who is also a friend of an old friend. If only the judge in England does not find out that you are somehow connected with this hotel.

And the High Court of England does not yet seem to really know that Bogolyubov and Kolomoisky may have such an interesting hidden asset. In the documents (responses to requests) of the High Court of England, which came into the possession of the Telegraph and concerning the issue of the order for the disclosure of assets by Gennady Bogolyubov, none of the companies involved in the Radisson Blu Resort & Spa, Split appears. Although, of course, there are many other interesting names and company names.

However, if something quacks like a duck, has feathers like a duck and does not sink in water, then the answer to the question “what is it?” usually unambiguous. In the same way, when someone has placed his people to manage a hotel through companies affiliated with the “former” Privatbank, but is trying to hide it all offshore, it is difficult to come up with any original answer to the question “whose Radisson is this?” Blu Resort & Spa in Croatia?

Therefore, probably, both “Privatbank”, which is engaged in the return of assets embezzled by Bogolyubov and Kolomoisky, and law enforcement officers, should take a closer look at Radisson Blu Resort & Spa, Split. We, in turn, will monitor this issue.

What preceded

At the end of 2016, after the revelation of numerous abuses in Privatbank, which belonged to Igor Kolomoisky and Gennady Bogolyubov, it was nationalized. The Cabinet of Ministers made the corresponding decision on December 18, 2016, and already on December 21, the state bought the problem bank for 1 hryvnia.

The former owners tried by all means, primarily through the Ukrainian courts, to regain what they had lost. And periodically they even received the solutions they needed. But the state did something cunning. The already nationalized Privatbank decided to move the trial from Ukraine to a foreign jurisdiction and filed a lawsuit against the former owners in the High Court of England. Here, the fact that he had a British passport played a cruel joke on Bogolyubov (the High Court considers such claims only if the defendants reside in the Kingdom).

On December 9, 2017, Privatbank reported that the High Court of England issued an order for the worldwide seizure of the assets of Kolomoisky, Bogolyubov, and six of their companies. “Through this lawsuit, Privatbank plans to return funds, the amount of which, together with interest, amounts to more than $2.5 billion,” the message noted, in particular.

It is also known that the court limited Bogolyubov and Kolomoisky’s expenses by setting a weekly “ceiling” of 20 thousand pounds. More - only in agreement with Privatbank.

In addition, the state ordered an independent investigation from the reputable international detective agency Kroll. Detectives discovered numerous abuses in Privatbank during the Kolomoisky-Bogolyubov era. According to the agency, which later became known as the “Kroll report,” the fraudulent schemes of the former owners caused losses of $5.5 billion.

On September 2, 2023, Igor Kolomoisky was charged with fraud and legalization of property obtained by crime and was arrested for two months with the right to post bail. So far it is known that he will be behind bars at least until the fall of 2024.

In November 2023, lawyers for Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov announced that the lawsuit against them had crumbled in court.

But on January 31, 2023, according to Economic Pravda with reference to PrivatBank’s commentary, it became known that the court in London expanded the possibilities for the worldwide seizure of the assets of the former owners of PrivatBank. “The English court’s decision to allow the bank to obtain foreign asset seizure orders and to require defendants to provide further information on the disclosure of assets, which will allow it to monitor the execution of asset seizure orders, is an extremely positive development for the bank,” the EC noted in a press release. service. PrivatBank.

As for Kolomoisky’s partner, in July 2024 it became known that Bogolyubov fled Ukraine using someone else’s documents. His wife was then deprived of the opportunity to occupy an important diplomatic post in Austria, and Bogolyubov himself was declared suspected of illegally crossing the border by the DBR.