How companies from the Privat orbit are trying to prevent the state from receiving its legal funds.
NPK-Galicia (Drohobych Refinery) in the Lviv region was once one of the largest oil refineries in Ukraine. But thanks to the “wise” leadership of private owners, the company stopped oil refining long ago and is about to go bankrupt.
The bankruptcy procedure started in December last year due to the plant’s billions of dollars in debt, which had been forming for decades. How could this happen if NPK-Galicia has not been working for many years? And who is trying to prevent the state from receiving its legal funds from the debtor plant.
The Drohobych enterprise is part of the so-called “Privat” business group. Its informal leaders are Igor Kolomoisky and Gennady Bogolyubov.
They and their business partners earned billions of hryvnia for many years through their control of the semi-state Ukrnafta. But this also made it possible to formulate cunning schemes, accrue fictitious debts and run through deals worth billions of hryvnia.
NPK-Galicia, which, although it did not work, had the appropriate profile of activity, existing infrastructure, licenses to operate in the petroleum products market, etc., until recently was one of the centers of such transactions.
In the past, the state lost taxes and revenues from the sale of oil and petroleum products because of this.
Today, old agreements with “offshore” dubious traders who appear out of nowhere can negatively affect the financing of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, for which every hryvnia from the state budget is important.
The story began in December 2023, when the Economic Court of the Lviv Region opened bankruptcy proceedings for NPK-Galicia, introduced a procedure for disposing of its property and a moratorium on satisfying creditors’ claims. Also then, the claims of PJSC Ukrnafta in the amount of UAH 828,165,429.95 were recognized.
But according to current legislation, all creditors had 30 days to file statements of their own monetary claims against the debtor, the Drohobych Oil Refinery. And they appeared.
During January 2024, a number of applications were received from potential creditors with monetary claims against NPK-Galicia from many companies. But some of them are simply fantastic - the idle plant owes billions of hryvnias:
- LITTOP ENTERPRISES LIMITED
- BORDO MANAGEMENT LIMITED
- BRIDGEMONT VENTURES LIMITED
- RAVENSCROFT HOLDINGS LIMITED
- NORDWIND TRADE AS
- “REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE “MOMENTUM ENTERPRISES (EASTERN EUROPE) LIMITED”
- VERSALA LTD
- UNITED ENERGY LLC
- LLC "PAFIS"
- BRIGHTON LTD LLC
Who are these companies that have entrusted their funds to the Drohobych Oil Refinery? Open sources say that they are related to Igor Kolomoisky and his business partners, who were unable to maintain oil refining in Drohobych, but were able to impose debts of cosmic proportions on the enterprise.
LITTOP ENTERPRISES LIMITED, BORDO MANAGEMENT LIMITED and BRIDGEMONT VENTURES LIMITED
These are the Cypriot “offshores” of Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov, through which they owned approximately 42% of the shares of PJSC Ukrnafta.
On November 6, 2022, according to the decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Headquarters, the shares of Ukrnafta owned by these companies were alienated in favor of the state.
The declared (but not yet recognized by the court) claims of these creditors under dubious agreements for the assignment of rights to claims on dividends from Ukrnafta itself for 2011-2014. reach almost 3 billion hryvnia! Namely:
- LITTOP ENTERPRISES LIMITED – 972,988,440.19 UAH.
- BORDO MANAGEMENT LIMITED – 921,919,558.45 UAH.
- BRIDGEMONT VENTURES LIMITED – 972,988,438.19 UAH.
This is not the first “financial scheme” in which these companies are involved. Previously, they had already sued Ukraine in the Stockholm arbitration court to recover USD 6 billion from the state.
Also, these “offshore companies” unsuccessfully challenge the state’s seizure of shares of PJSC Ukrnafta. Perhaps they are trying to take revenge for the loss of control over Ukrnafta already in the bankruptcy case of NPK-Galicia?
RAVENSCROFT HOLDINGS LIMITED
Offshore of Kolomoisky from the British Virgin Islands, who was on the board of the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant.
According to a similar dubious “scheme”, an application was submitted to RAVENSCROFT HOLDINGS LIMITED, which appears in journalistic investigations as a company that came to the attention of the financial monitoring of Cyprus back in September 2010.
The grounds for the alleged existence of a debt are the same - an agreement on the assignment of rights to claims on Ukrnafta dividends for the period 2011-2013, concluded by LUCRINO INVESTMENTS LIMITED (Cyprus) in 2017.
This company submitted claims to the court against NPK-Galicia in the amount of UAH 291,821,430.35.
NORDWIND TRADE AS
Swiss logistics company engaged in the transportation of petroleum products, coal and ferroalloys. She is associated with Kolomoisky’s business partner, Mikhail Kiperman.
NORDWIND TRADE AS and Kiperman are involved in criminal proceedings for the withdrawal of almost 600 million UAH from the accounts of Ukrtatnafta (Kremenchug Oil Refinery), as indicated in the publication of Economic Pravda.
It was NORDWIND TRADE AS that was involved in concluding contracts and withdrawing funds from Ukrtatnafta, for which in June 2023 Kiperman was declared suspicious by the SBU.
NORDWIND TRADE AS declares monetary claims against NPK-Galicia in the amount of UAH 1,276,498,448.48.
But these contracts are very similar to those between the Swiss and Ukrtatnafta. They were concluded in 2022 after the start of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Probably, NPK-Galicia, like Ukrtatnafta, was used to withdraw funds.
“REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE “MOMENTUM ENTERPRISES (EASTERN EUROPE) LIMITED”
Poltava branch of Kolomoisky’s offshore company MOMENTUM ENTERPRISES (EASTERN EUROPE) LIMITED (Cyprus).
The representative office asks the court to recognize monetary claims against NPK-Galicia in the amount of UAH 1,344,234,547.62. under contracts for the purchase and sale of gas condensate, which NPK-Galicia allegedly purchased from him.
According to Economic Pravda, the company is involved in scandals involving gas supplies to energy trader United Energy and NEC Ukrenergo.
In addition, the representative office was mentioned in investigations into the sale of coal and gas to the state-owned Centerenergo for more than UAH 4 billion.
Therefore, the court must establish whether the purchase and sale agreements for gas condensate with NPK-Galicia were real.
VERSALA LTD
Another Cypriot company from Kolomoisky’s orbit.
She asks the court to recognize monetary claims in the amount of 697,493,646.94 UAH. based on a contract dated 2017. The company allegedly supplied NPK-Galicia with bitumen produced by JSC Naftan (Vitebsk, Republic of Belarus). And NPK-Galicia, it seems, did not pay for this product.
VERSALA LTD appears in publications along with companies that were associated with Ukrtatnafta before its transfer to state management.
UNITED ENERGY LLC (Kyiv)
One of the most famous companies associated with Kolomoisky. This energy trader appears in numerous criminal proceedings for illegal schemes to siphon off public funds both before and during Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), in 2020, Centrenergo PJSC entered into agreements to sell electricity to United Energy LLC. Formally, it won the auction, but it’s all about the details.
Due to non-selection of contracted electricity, the winning company had to pay a fine. To avoid this, additional agreements were retroactively concluded with Centrenergo. The provision on permitted deviation limits in the amount of 5% of the contractual volume of electricity extraction was excluded from the main agreements.
This allowed the energy trader to take any amount of electricity without penalties. As a result of these actions, the state company did not receive UAH 176.8 million.
Also, according to NABU, in March 2022, United Energy purchased electricity from NEC Ukrenergo for more than UAH 716 million.
NEC Ukrenergo never received money for the supplied electricity, although it was further sold to real market participants. And the funds received “were transferred to the accounts of a foreign company controlled by the organizer of the scheme, which is also a business partner of a participant in the case of NABU and SAP about the withdrawal of funds from PrivatBank.”
As part of the bankruptcy case of NPK-Galicia, United Energy has so far declared only UAH 1,165,351.23. However, it is unknown what other illegal transactions these companies are connected with.
PAFIS LLC and BRIGHTON LTD LLC
These are Ukrainian companies that are associated with Kolomoisky and general loan obligations to JSC CB PRIVATBANK.
“PAFIS” asks the court to recognize monetary claims against NPK-Galicia in the amount of UAH 249,691,623.26. under guarantee agreements with JSC CB “PRIVATBANK” dated 2009. The company claims that it fulfilled its obligations to PrivatBank instead of NPK-Galichyna. Therefore, he demands to repay the debt.
BRIGHTON LTD appears in court cases in 2017 regarding the invalidation of additional agreements to loan agreements concluded with PrivatBank before its nationalization.
Thus, companies that are related to the withdrawal of funds from the largest bank in Ukraine through lending to related parties also make claims against NPK-Galicia.
The total amount of claims of creditors associated with Igor Kolomoisky and his partners already exceeds UAH 7 billion. This indicates an attempt by the shareholders of NPK-Galicia to take control of the bankruptcy procedure through “controlled creditors.” But the basis for this is dubious agreements and contracts.
It seems that the owners of the Drohobych oil refinery “mobilized” controlled companies to prevent settlements with other creditors. They are trying to “blur the demands” of their claims against the backdrop of the overall debt mass that has been building up over decades.
It is up to the court to decide whether to accept or reject these claims. But it is worth remembering the results of the economic activities of the “privatists” both directly at NPK-Galicia and at other large assets. Such as PrivatBank or Ukrnafta, which, after coming under state control, began to generate billions in profits, pay taxes and dividends to the state budget. The state, in turn, uses this money to finance the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other expenses to fight the Russian aggressor.
Therefore, which is better? Withdraw another hundreds of millions to “offshore” companies under dubious agreements? Or finance the purchase of thousands of drones, the development of modern weapons and high-quality ammunition for the defenders of Ukraine?
