A number of wealthy Ukrainians – some wanted for alleged crimes – bought Cypriot passports, according to an investigation executed by Al Jazeera news agency.
The passports have been purchased through the controversial Citizenship Investment Program known as the “golden passport” scheme, Al Jazeera reveals in its Aug. 23 investigation.
The Al Jazeera Investigative Unit has obtained a substantial leak of passport data that reveals serious flaws at the heart of the “golden passport” scheme that has raised billions of dollars from the sale of citizenship to the world’s wealthiest and most secretive people. Many of these people are under criminal investigation, international sanctions or serving prison sentences in their home countries.
The journalists have reviewed over 2,500 applications for the program filed between 2017 and 2019 and discovered that many breach Cyprus’ own current rules on acquiring Cypriot citizenship.
Among those who acquired “golden passports” are two Ukrainians who are currently on Ukraine’s Interior Ministry wanted list: Mykola Zlochevsky, owner of hydrocarbon company Burisma Holding and Ukraine’s ex-ecology minister under Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovych, is wanted for an alleged bribe; tycoon Vadim Shulman is investigated for alleged money laundering. Agro-tycoon and VAB bank owner Oleh Bakhmatyuk was also on the list in 2019 for alleged financial crimes.
Shulman denies the charges.
The Kyiv Post could not reach Zlochevsky and Bakhmatyuk before publication.
The list also includes: Liudmila Lebedeva, wife of Ukraine’s former Defence Minister Pavlo Lebedev; Yuriy Obodovskyy, a Russian-Ukrainian citizen with alleged connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin; Natalia Vasylyuk, CEO and a member of the board of directors of Avangard Agrico; Anatoly Yakovynets, first deputy chief of Ukraine’s tax police 2011-2014; Volodymyr Zubyk, member of Ukraine’s parliament from 2006-2019.
Cyprus is a European Union member which means that with a Cypriot passport one has access to the E.U. and all the benefits of an E.U. citizen. This is particularly helpful for citizens of other countries who are trying to avoid criminal charges at home.
The main requirement for getting a Cypriot “golden passport” within the scheme is an investment of at least 2 million euros with an additional “donation” of 200,000 euros.
Cyprus sold passports to more than 30 people who are either facing criminal charges, convicted or under international sanctions. Another 40 successful applicants held state positions, known as politically exposed persons (PEPs), meaning they are considered a serious risk for bribery or money laundering under EU guidelines.
Among a few benefits listed on the website of Cyprus Developers Alliance, which claims to be the official provider of “golden passports,” are a favorable tax system, visa-free access to 172 countries, and return on investment, which means a “golden passport” holder can sell his assets after five years but still keep the citizenship.
Cyprus tightened the rules in 2019 to bar those wanted for crimes, convicted or under sanctions but it has left a serious loophole for applicants who bought passports before that policy change.
Mykola Zlochevsky
Zlochevsky is Ukraine’s ex-ecology minister under Ukraine’s former president Viktor Yanukovych and an owner of Burisma Holding, one of the largest private gas producers in Ukraine.
Burisma Holding placed itself in the very heart of U.S. President Donald Trump’s impeachment probe in 2019. Trump asked his Ukrainian counterpart, President Volodymyr Zelensky, to investigate Burisma, which once employed Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s challenger in the upcoming presidential election. Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was the company’s board member from 2014 to 2019.
Trump was later acquitted by the Senate in an impeachment trial. However, Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, SAPO, reportedly said that they would not look into the Biden family while investigating Burisma.
Zlochevsky fled the country in 2014 after the EuroMaidan Revolution ousted Yanukovych. Investigations into Zlochevsky started shortly after.
Zlochevsky is suspected of various wrongdoings mainly related to accumulating wealth via numerous energy companies that he owned while serving as energy minister.
In June, Zlochevsky’s henchmen offered $6 million bribe to the country’s top anti-corruption officials, Nazar Kholodnitskiy, then head of the SAPO, and Artem Sytnyk, acting head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). It was the biggest reported bribe attempt in Ukrainian history meant to bury this investigation once and for all. On Aug. 17, Zlochevsky was arrested in absentia for the alleged bribe.
Al Jazeera reveals that Zlochevsky’s application for a Cypriot “golden visa” was approved on Dec. 1, 2017. His daughters Anna and Karina also acquired Cypriot passports, according to the investigation.
Oleg Bakhmatyuk
Bakhmatyuk is a Ukrainian agricultural tycoon and suspect in a large-scale embezzlement case. He was placed on Ukraine’s wanted list on Nov. 21, 2019, by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). However, as of Aug. 23, his name is longer present on the list.
There were attempts to remove the case against Bakhmatyuk. It was closed in June by the decision of Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court which has a tainted reputation. NABU appealed this decision and won. The detectives argued that they have enough evidence to prove Bakhmatyuk’s guilt.
NABU was investigating Bakhmatyuk for alleged involvement in embezzling $49 million dollars from a stabilization loan issued to his now-defunct VAB Bank.
In November 2014, Ukrainian authorities declared VAB Bank insolvent and took control of its assets. In a 2015 interview, Valeria Gontareva, then the governor of Ukraine’s central bank, said that VAB and Financial Initiative, Bakhmatyuk’s other bank, had 64% and 96% insider loans, respectively.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, Bakhmatyuk owes the state $1 billion.
In a Nov. 18, 2019 interview with the Kyiv Post, Bakhmatyuk acknowledged having insider loans but said the practice was common in Ukraine at the time. He said his banks were undercapitalized because of the 2014 economic crisis in the country caused in part by Russia’s invasion.
Bakhmatyuk later called the investigation against him politically motivated.
Despite a fight with Ukrainian authorities, Bakhmatyuk’s UkrLandFarminng Deputy Director Ihor Petrashko was appointed as Ukraine’s economy minister on March 17.
According to Al Jazeera, Bakhmatyuk’s application for a “golden passport” from Cyprus was approved on May 25, 2018. Bakhmatyuk’s sister Natalia Vasylyuk, who holds senior positions in his companies, also acquired Cypriot citizenship on the same day, according to the investigation.
Vadim Shulman
Shulman is a former friend and ex-business partner of Igor Kolomoisky, a Ukrainian oligarch who is accused of money embezzlement on a massive scale. Kolomoisky allegedly misappropriated $5.5 billion from Ukraine’s largest lender PrivatBank he owned back then. Kolomoisky denies the accusations.
Shulman reportedly provided information on Kolomoisky to U.S. law enforcement.
In mid-August, the FBI raided two of Kolomoisky’s offices in Cleveland, Ohio, and Miami, Florida, without making arrests.
A few days later the U. S. Department of Justice accused Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky of illegal activity and moved to seize his properties in Louisville, Kentucky and Dallas, Texas. The U.S. Justice Department believes the real estate in question was purchased with money embezzled from PrivatBank.
Shulman raged against Kolomoisky after finding out that his former business partner defrauded him. Since then, Shulman has been suing Kolomoisky for alleged fraud in a number of jurisdictions. In the U.K. his claim stands at $500 million. In the U.S., Shulman claims that Kolomoisky cheated him out of $30 million by operating a $100 million fraudulent loan scheme.
Shulman now lives in Monaco with his family.
In July 2019, he was placed on the list of wanted persons by Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Prosecutor General’s Office is accusing Shulman of money laundering, which he strongly denies saying that this case is Kolomoisky’s revenge for testifying against him.
According to Al Jazeera, Shulman obtained a Cypriot “golden passport” on July 11 in 2019.
Shulman confirmed to the Kyiv Post that he has a Cypriot passport but did not specify whether he purchased it.
“If you want to write about all of Cyprus’ citizens or citizens of other countries, then (be aware that) I have two passports from Israel – citizenship obtained in 1997 – and in 20 years (I obtained) a passport from Cyprus. My wife is French and my kids have French citizenship. When I will be obtaining a French passport will you also write about it?” Shulman told the Kyiv Post.
