Yuri Kolobov
Yuri KolobovYuriy Kolobov, who served as the long-time finance minister in Azarov's government, has been placed on the international wanted list. This was reported to the First Instance publication by sources within the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). He is suspected of money laundering on behalf of the Yanukovych family, organizing conversion centers throughout Ukraine, and embezzling budget funds on an especially large scale. It was previously reported that the SBU had opened criminal proceedings against former Ukrainian Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov under Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of power or official position).
"By abusing their official position and in violation of the Ukrainian law 'On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2013,' Kolobov and other officials organized and secured the issuance of $3 billion in foreign government bonds at the expense of the Russian Federation's National Welfare Fund, and also illegally transferred a $450 commission to VTBCapital plc (a subsidiary of the Russian bank VTB, London) for the placement of the said government securities."
Kolobov faces up to ten years behind bars, with all property confiscated and a ban on working for government agencies.
Yuriy Kolobov, the former finance minister and a close friend of the Family, has now been stripped of his assets in Swiss banks. But he's not too upset—after all, during his years in power, close to the country's top brass, he managed to swindle millions of dollars. A series of articles would be insufficient to list all of his schemes. We've already published one about Kolobov and his most significant scams. Now, we'll focus on the lesser-known scams of the "Family treasurer." Kolobov is a close friend of Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov and the President's son, Oleksandr Yanukovych. Yuriy Kolobov hails from Pavlohrad (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast) and was born in 1973. His father was an engineer, and his mother was a store manager. His birthplace is the village of Kozintsi in Vinnytsia Oblast, where his mother hails from. Village residents recall seeing Yuri Kolobov in the village many times during the summer, when he was still in school. Like other children, he was brought to his grandparents' house for the summer holidays.
Villagers say they always respected their mother's family, who worked tirelessly on the collective farm. Villagers also say that last year, Kolobov, now a minister, attended his second cousin's wedding. Village head Mykola Pilipenko recalls that Kolobov and his wife arrived in an expensive car. A driver was at the wheel. He claims the Minister of Finance doesn't help his small homeland, but he's not held accountable for this. Yuriy Kolobov holds two higher education degrees: his first, in economics, was from the Prydniprovsk State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture in Dnipro, and his second, from Karazin Kharkiv National University. Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov's income in 2011 was 1,511 million hryvnias. Most of this income came from salary. Kolobov declared dividends and interest in the amount of UAH 54,298 thousand, financial assistance in the amount of UAH 78,223 thousand, received gifts in the amount of UAH 6,821 thousand and other types of income in the amount of UAH 121,97 thousand. The total income of the minister's family members (wife, daughter and son) was UAH 365,886 thousand, including wages - UAH 36,278 thousand, income from the alienation of movable and immovable property - UAH 328,174 thousand, other types of income - UAH 1,434 thousand. Kolobov has UAH 1,343 million in his bank accounts. The minister owns, leases or has other use rights to land plots of 4 thousand square meters, 500 square meters and a residential building with an area of 512,4 square meters. His family members own land plots with an area of 1,999 thousand square meters. Kolobov also owns passenger cars: a 2009 Mazda CX-7 2261, a 2011 Porsche Cayenne S4806, and a 2011 Toyota Highlander 3456. The financial obligations of the minister’s family members amounted to 20,735 thousand UAH for voluntary insurance and 15 thousand UAH for property maintenance costs.
A drunken deputy minister is no obstacle for him
Ukrainian Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov was invited to parliament in June 2013 to present a report on the implementation of the 2012 state budget. Deputy Finance Minister Anatoliy Myarkovsky had previously attempted to present the report. However, during his speech, Svoboda MP Ihor Shvaika claimed Myarkovsky smelled of alcohol and was intoxicated, requesting that the deputy minister be removed from the chamber. Myarkovsky then abruptly left the parliamentary podium and ran out of the session hall. Party of Regions MP Volodymyr Makeenko, for his part, claimed that the deputy minister had simply become ill. "I can state with absolute certainty that Myarkovsky became ill. It may have been his heart or his blood pressure, and that's why he left the podium. But there was no smell of alcohol. I personally verified this," he said. The minister himself was so drunk that he couldn't even make it to the podium himself.
The country's debts - into one's own pocket
On March 6, 2012, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine raised UAH 2,87 billion in domestic government bonds, and the debt securities auction brought in a record UAH 2,87 billion for the Ukrainian budget this year, according to the Ministry of Finance's website (headed by Yuriy Kolobov). "The Ministry of Finance rushed through the placement of euro-denominated bonds, offering the 18-month bond at the very last minute. The result of this placement is valuable primarily because the Ministry of Finance signaled to the market what yield it considers fair for these bonds," comments Serhiy Fursa, a specialist in Dragon Capital's debt securities sales department. A comment from Kolobov's fellow countryman, a financial expert: The IMF won't give us a loan, so we'll borrow the same money from Ukrainian banks, especially since almost all of them are foreign-owned (Raiffeisen, BNP-Paribas, OTP, UniCredit, Privat, etc.). This Kolobov is trying very hard to show his boss that he's a wunderkind from Secondary School No. 5 in Pavlograd and will carry out the Party of Regions's assignment. The issuance of domestic government bonds is only possible in the National Bank of Ukraine.
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