Kolomoisky joins legal process as intervener in case of VS Energy's asset seizure
Businessman Ihor Kolomoisky filed an application to join the court case as a third party in the Ministry of Justice's claim against sanctioned Russian oligarchs Aleksandr Babakov, Yevgeny Giner and Mikhail Voevodin, reported the chief expert of the public organization StateWatch Oleksandr Lemenov.
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According to the statement, Kolomoisky wants to join the case on the side of the defendants Mikhailo Voevodin and Natalia Selivanova (common-law wife of Voevodin).
The legal case involves the confiscation of assets belonging to the VS Energy group, whose ultimate beneficial owners authorities claim are Babakov, Giner and Voevodin. The Ukrainian state is seeking to claim the assets for state revenue.
One of the assets that the ministry is intending to sequester from the Russians is 49.84% of the shares of JSC Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Combine.
This share is owned by Kadis Holding Limited of St. Kitts and Nevis through the Cypriot company Starmill Ltd. It, in turn, is controlled by Newsteel Holding Ltd from Belize. The last two companies have been under the sanctions of the National Security Council since May 12, 2023.
According to the Ministry of Justice, Voevodin and Selivanova have been controlling the shares of the Ukrainian plant since mid-2017. The ministry's lawsuit mentions the decision of the High Court of Justice in England and Wales dated June 14, 2022, which established the fact of agreements between Kolomoisky and Voivodin to sell this share for $926 million.
The other half of the shares of the Kryvyi Rih Combine remains with Rinat Akhmetov, who is publicly listed as the beneficiary of the enterprise in the state register.
The Ministry of Justice considers the lawsuit against Aleksandr Babakov, Yevgeny Giner, and Mikhail Voevodin to be "the ke sanctions battle."
In case of confiscation, the state will take corporate rights from the Russians in eight regional energy companies, six hotels, two metallurgical plants, one of the shopping centers in Kyiv and 31 other companies, as well as about $2.5 million.
VS Energy insists that its owners are EU citizens Vilis Dambins, Valts Vigants, Arthurs Altbergs (all from Latvia), as well as Oleg Sizerman and Marina Yaroslavskaya (both from Germany). Giner ceased to be a shareholder of the group in 2014, and Aleksandr Babakov and Mikhail Voevodin never owned VS Energy group shares.
