Wealthy Ukrainian Oligarchs, individuals like Mykola Lahun, instead of helping their country during the war, are increasingly hiding their wealth in the West and avoiding justice.
Recently, Ukraine was shaken by a major scandal involving the escape of one of the co-founders of PrivatBank and a close associate of Ihor Kolomoyskyi—Hennadiy Boholyubov.
Boarding the last compartment of a train to Poland with a fake passport, he likely managed to avoid criminal prosecution in the near future. However, for Ukraine, this is a troubling trend: before this, former bankers like Kostiantyn Zhevago, Mykola Lahun, and Dmytro Firtash also escaped justice by crossing the western border.
These are prime examples of people who should be returning their ill-gotten gains to their country during Russia’s full-scale invasion. Instead, they are biding their time in hospitable European capitals, such as London and Vienna, avoiding rightful justice.
Everyone is Fleeing.
The story of Hennadiy Boholyubov’s escape could easily be turned into a thrilling crime drama.
He arrived at the Kyiv railway station incognito, using his wife’s car—his wife being the former First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Hennadiy Boholyubov
On the train, he presented a lost passport belonging to a man from the Volyn region in western Ukraine, who resembled him.
He crossed the Polish border with the help of several border guards, one of whom is now in pre-trial detention for organising the VIP’s escape.
Boholyubov, over 60 years old and with more than three minor children, had more than enough reasons to legally leave the country during the war.
However, he still had to hide, as Ukrainian journalists reported that he was facing multiple criminal investigations. His departure from the country had been increasingly difficult over the past few years.
European readers may be interested to know that Boholyubov holds British citizenship and plans to live in Vienna, where his wife has recently been appointed as Ukraine’s representative to Vienna-based international organisations.
Therefore, he likely also had legal residence documents in this EU country. Essentially, two countries—the United Kingdom and Austria—are now turning a blind eye to the illegal exit of a prominent Ukrainian figure, thus aiding his evasion of justice.
European countries are no strangers to such “guests.” The wealth taken from Ukraine by these fugitives allows them to live comfortably in Western Europe for years.
Kostiantyn Zhevago
They can afford expensive lawyers and delay extradition cases—if they even arise.
For example, former owner of “Finance and Credit Bank”, Kostiantyn Zhevago, who is accused in Ukraine of embezzling about 60 million euros from the bank and being involved in bribing the head of Ukraine’s Supreme Court, is comfortably residing in France.
This does not prevent him from owning a media business in Ukraine that lobbies his interests in government agencies and whitewashes his reputation with foreign investors.
In addition, gas oligarch Dmytro Firtash has been awaiting justice from a U.S. court in Austria’s capital for nearly ten years. In Ukraine, he faces charges related to gas schemes that caused the state 40.5 million euros in damages and is on the National Security Council’s sanctions list.
The countries where they reside are in no hurry to deport them—the payments these men and their families make sustain dozens of jobs in London and the European Union. For instance, French courts have refused Ukraine’s request to extradite Zhevago. Similarly, Austrian courts have protected Dmytro Firtash from extradition to the United States, where Washington accuses him of misconduct in arms supply deals.
A Case of Cynicism
One of the most egregious examples involves another Ukrainian entrepreneur who fled to Austria in 2022 and now divides his time between Vienna and London.
This is Mykola Lahun, the former owner of “Delta Bank”.
Lahun is notorious for leading one of the largest private banks to bankruptcy—second only to the nationalised PrivatBank, owned by Ihor Kolomoyskyi and the aforementioned Hennadiy Boholyubov.
Lahun and his top managers are accused of a litany of abuses, including funnelling funds through numerous offshore companies under his control, registering businesses in the names of relatives, issuing loans to affiliated parties, submitting fake reports to regulators, engaging in illegal transactions with government bonds and currency operations, and using fraudulent or significantly overvalued collateral to secure refinancing funds.
The scale of Delta Bank’s operations is underscored by the fact that it was one of the key “operators” of the scandal-ridden Austrian Meinl Bank, which lost its license due to involvement in money laundering.
“Pure fraud” is how former NBU Governor Valeria Gontareva, now a lecturer at the London School of Economics, described Lahun’s activities.
Lahun’s schemes also included dozens of companies in the aggressor country, as revealed by an investigation by the private detective firm Kroll.
For example, Cypriot Sakler Trading Limited owns the Russian “Max Petroleum” and Belarusian “Sakler,” Cypriot Christex Enterprises is a shareholder in the Russian “Titan-Energo Yug” and “Zodiac Center,” Cypriot Watkino Investments Limited owns Belarusian New Partnership LLC and Chieveley, and Cypriot Belarussian Development Investments Limited is a shareholder in the Belarusian “Spetsprodmash,” among others.
According to Ukrainian media, Lahun has transferred some of his assets to a UK resident, Ukrainian lawyer Hanna Hutsalyuk.
This includes a number of companies and real estate rental businesses in Austria. Additionally, through Hutsalyuk, Lahun’s other Russian connections, such as with the company “Ruspolimet,” are also traced. Another of Lahun’s lawyers, Denys Tarasyuk, has become the owner of several of Lahun’s companies. Today, Tarasyuk is among the Delta Bank executives against whom the Deposit Guarantee Fund claims nearly 600 million euros.
Trying to Get Away Clean According to calculations by Ukrainian official bodies and independent media, the total damage caused by Lahun’s activities exceeds 1.2 billion euros. The National Bank, state-owned Ukreximbank and Oschadbank, the Deposit Guarantee Fund, and several other private sector creditors claim these funds.
Despite a myriad of criminal cases (reportedly around 600 were opened), Lahun has consistently managed to avoid serious consequences.
Delta Bank was removed from the market in 2015, but until 2022, Lahun freely travelled between Austria and Ukraine, with his assets neither frozen nor transferred to state management. Dozens of land plots and active finance, construction, and insurance enterprises continued to generate profits for him. It wasn’t until 2023, when things began to heat up that Lahun decided to take drastic measures to avoid further prosecution.
The former owner of Delta Bank initiated personal bankruptcy proceedings as an individual—a relatively new procedure in Ukraine intended to help low-income citizens restore their financial reputation after crises or personal difficulties.
However, a person with over 1.2 billion euros in debt to state entities also decided to exploit this procedure and the loopholes in Ukrainian legislation. For almost a year, courts in Ukraine have been embroiled in disputes between the National Bank, state banks Ukreximbank and Oschadbank on one side, and Lahun and his lawyers on the other, debating whether the ex-banker has the right to take this step.
The dispute is ongoing, but the scales are gradually tipping in Lahun’s favour. This means that he may soon initiate the debt cancellation process in court.
European readers might be interested to know that out of the over 1.2 billion euros of total debt, Lahun has reportedly acknowledged barely a fifth.
He proposes writing off 80% of that amount and paying the remainder in “instalments” from his modest salary in Austria—where the ex-banker claims to earn about 2,900 euros monthly.
He proposes allocating 1,700 euros from this sum to repay the debt. At this rate, it would take Lahun 117,647 months or 9,803 years to pay off even the amount he acknowledges.
The personal bankruptcy procedure was not intended for this purpose.
Once it is completed, Lahun could transform from a financial fraudster and swindler into a quiet, law- abiding European resident, free to start a new life in Austria, the UK, or any other capital, without worrying about an Interpol warrant or other legal actions from Ukrainian authorities.
European media have noted that 1 billion euros—the amount Lahun owes the state—is could finance vitally needed missiles for air defence systems, HIMARS ammunition, TOW anti-tank missiles, Javelins, anti- tank grenade launchers, Bradley IFVs, other armoured vehicles, Humvees, logistical support vehicles, precision-guided munitions, airfield equipment, mines, engineering equipment, night vision devices, machine gun and other ammunition, spare parts, and more.
This is just one example of how the funds Lahun owes the state could have been used—the resources that Ukraine urgently needs to fight against Russian aggression.
During one of the court hearings, where Lahun appeared via video link, he claimed to have been in Vienna since around June 2022 and that his return depended on his doctors due to poor health and the need for ongoing treatment. In October 2023, a Ukrainian court issued a warrant for Lahun’s arrest in a case involving the embezzlement of over 80 million euros. It is now doubtful that the former banker will be seen in courtrooms for any other proceedings, even if he recovers.
Clearly, a similar fate likely awaits other European “fugitives” from Ukrainian justice.
As long as EU countries and the UK turn a blind eye to the fact that potential criminals are effectively hiding on their territory, these respectable citizens will continue to stroll the streets of London and Vienna, further concealing their assets from compensating the damages they caused Ukraine. Ukraine, in turn, could desperately use these funds to finance its military, rebuild its economy, and ensure social stability.
The new composition of the European Parliament and the renewed national parliaments across Europe and the UK must demand that their governments take a tougher stance on those who disregard the law in their home country.
Voters should ask why—while giving military aid with one hand at the taxpayers’ expense—these same governments allow individuals like Lahun to hide sums in European jurisdictions that are potentially equivalent to the annual aid of small nations.
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[…] Wealthy Ukrainian Oligarchs, individuals like Mykola Lahun, instead of helping their country during the war, are increasingly hiding their wealth in the West and avoiding justice – reports EU Today. […]