Not everything is calm in the Temple of Themis. Specifically, in the Northern Economic Court of Appeal. Once again, the tireless worker of this institution, judge Marina Barsuk, found herself at the epicenter of the scandal.
As Pavel Shultz writes in his review for the CRiME and [high-profile cases] projects, recently a note appeared in a number of first-tier online media that in 2021 the disgraced oligarch Igor Kolomoisky honored with his presence the marriage of judge Marina Didychenko with lawyer Viktor Barsuk ( in the photo above) . The media simply could not ignore the fact that the groom is the oligarch’s lawyer, and the bride sat in trials where the oligarch was de facto one of the parties.
In the “top” media, the note flashed and disappeared.
But not without a trace. Already on Monday, August 19, it was picked up by smaller online publications.
The publication is notable for the fact that it contains a video from the Badgers’ wedding. And in the video, in turn, Igor Valerievich is personally present.
In addition, the publication states that, according to the Unified State Register of Court Decisions, judge Marina Barsuk took part in the consideration of at least two cases related to Igor Kolomoisky. In fact, there are many more of them, and in one of the examples, the unknown author of the note “hit the bar” - in that case, Kolomoisky doesn’t even smell (that’s why we won’t mention that trial).
The first case is related to the claim of the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant against PrivatBank .
In 2009, PrivatBank provided a $36.1 million loan to the plant from Kolomoisky’s orbit. Since at that time the financial institution was also controlled by the oligarch, he essentially borrowed money from himself, transferred it from pocket to pocket. However, after the nationalization of Privatbank, Kolomoisky began to owe this money to the state.
The Northern Economic Court of Appeal, by its decision dated April 14, 2021, “forgave” Kolomoisky’s debt to the state bank. Judge Marina Didychenko, who had not yet changed her last name to Barsuk, presided over this process.
The second case concerns PJSC Ukrnafta, which was also milked by Igor Valerievich for a long time.
In 2015, Ukrnafta, then in the orbit of the oligarch, poured 3.48 billion worth of crude oil controlled by Kolomoisky At the same time, NABU, through commercial courts, sought to terminate the deal between Ukrnafta and Kotlas in order to return the property of the state-owned company, which ended up in the tenacious hands of Kolomoisky. Over several years of litigation, the “anti-corruption activists” managed to win the majority of the oil (UAH 2.48 million).
But after the elections in 2019 (President Vladimir Zelensky was initially extremely loyal to Kolomoisky, who took all possible part in the “greens” coming to power), the oligarch managed to achieve a review of previous court decisions on Kotlas’s transactions with Ukrnafta. The Northern Economic Court of Appeal played an important role in this. Marina Didychenko, the future Marina Barsuk, sat on the board that considered the Kotlas case.
settlement agreement with Ukrnafta in 2020 : Kotlas received installments until 2025 for UAH 2.48 million and avoided paying fines, penalties, etc. for an amount exceeding half a billion hryvnia.
Well, and finally, let’s briefly mention the third, most recent case, in which judge Marina Barsuk is closely intertwined with the interests of the oligarch Kolomoisky.
There is one of the largest gas production companies in Ukraine - Ukrnaftaburinnya. It exploits the most promising gas field - Sakhalin in the Kharkov region. Before nationalization, Ukrnaftoburinnya was controlled by Igor Kolomoisky through the Dutch JKX Ukraїne BV.
On October 2 last year, JKX Ukraїne BV Kolomoisky began a legal battle to return the company back. For this purpose, the “Dutch” filed a corresponding lawsuit in the Economic Court of Kyiv against the state-owned Ukrnafta, which, together with ARMA, controls the nationalized company.
The trial at first instance lasted nine months. The Kiev Economic Court issued a final verdict on June 5 this year: to refuse to satisfy the claim.
Naturally, Kolomoisky’s people were not at all satisfied with this decision, and on July 1 they filed an appeal to the Northern Economic Court of Appeal. The panel of judges that accepted the plaintiff's application probably purely by chance included Marina Barsuk, at whose wedding the actual owner of the plaintiff company was a guest.
Ukrnafta lawyers, stunned by this turn of events, challenged the wife of the oligarch’s lawyer. They diplomatically indicated that “PJSC Ukrnafta doubts the impartiality and independence of judge Marina Anatolyevna Barsuk when considering and deciding [this] case or other cases in which PJSC Ukrnafta is a participant.”
But on August 5, the panel of the Northern Economic Court, which gathered to consider the recusal, decided that it “does not have the right to evaluate and make a decision on the validity or unfoundedness of the application for the recusal of judge M.A. Barsuk.” That is, Marina Barsuk remained in business.
