Boholiubov left Ukraine using passport of 67-year-old Volyn resident - media. DOCUMENT
Businessman and former co-owner of Privatbank Hennadii Boholiubov left the country using the passport of a resident of Volyn region, 67-year-old Mykola Kuprianovych Siumak. Boholiubov rejected the version that his wife Emine Dzhaparova, a permanent representative to international organisations in Vienna, helped him travel abroad.
This is reported by Ukrainska Pravda, citing investigation data and its own sources, Censor.NET reports.
The oligarch left with someone else's passport
Sources in law enforcement agencies said that in late June, Boholiubov "unexpectedly for Ukrainian law enforcement" found himself "either in the Austrian capital Vienna or in London".
According to the article, at the time of his departure abroad, there were no grounds for restricting his movement: Boholiubov is 62 years old, the father of 5 minor children, and has not been charged.
According to the investigation, 46-year-old border guard Volodymyr Makarenko helped Boholiubov illegally cross the border with someone else's document.
Interlocutors in law enforcement and business circles said that Makarenko is currently in a pre-trial detention centre on suspicion, while Boholiubov is between London and Vienna, trying to obtain political asylum.
According to the SBI, Boholyubov left the country using the passport of another person. This is a resident of Volyn region, 67-year-old Mykola Kuprianovych Siumak.
Several interlocutors of the UP in law enforcement agencies claim that this person has already been found and even interrogated.
The publication also found and contacted Mykola Siumak. He confirmed that he had lost his passport in the spring of 2022 and assured us that he had not left Ukraine on 24 June this year and was now at home.
In addition, UP managed to establish that the passport of the relevant series really belonged to this person and had been used repeatedly when crossing the border until the spring of 2022.
Boholiubov could have been helped by his wife, Emine Dzhaparova
According to UP, Boholiubov usually travelled around Kyiv in an armoured Mercedes accompanied by a security car, but on 23 June he arrived at the railway station in Kyiv with his wife in her car. Boholiubov's wife is former First Deputy Foreign Minister, Permanent Representative to International Organisations in Vienna Emine Dzhaparova.
According to SBI suspicions, border guard Makarenko was at the Yahodyn checkpoint on the night of 24 June and approached the last compartment of the 13th carriage of the Kyiv-Helm train, in which Boholiubov was travelling. Then, according to the official version, he waited for his subordinate, told her not to enter the last compartment because he had already "personally checked" the passports of the passengers, and handed her the documents, including a passport in the name of Mykola Siumak. The border guard scanned the passports and returned them to Makarenko, who handed them to Boholiubov, according to the UP article.
The system had a "flag" next to Boholiubov's name
At the same time, Boholiubov himself claims that he left the country on his own Ukrainian passport and that the state has no reason to prevent him from leaving the country, UP writes.
The newspaper's sources said that in relation to Boholiubov, "the border guards' system had an additional check mark - a so-called flag", which means that permission to let him go abroad must be given by the leadership of the border guard service.
According to Boholiubov, to travel abroad on the Kyiv-Chelm train, he provided border guards with his passport. Ukrainian law enforcement officials claim that the businessman presented this document to Polish border guards. According to UP's sources, Boholiubov's passport was not entered into the system when he crossed the Ukrainian border. This means that Boholiubov could not have used it, the article says.
What does Boholiubov himself say?
In an interview with UP, Boholiubov said that in early 2023, when he was crossing the border, his Ukrainian passport was taken away and cancelled for unknown reasons. He acknowledged that he managed to leave Ukraine that year, but he did not know how he had received permission to leave from the head of the Border Guard Service.
"At the same time, Boholiubov rejected the version that his wife Emine Dzhaparova helped him with his trips. Boholiubov claims that he travelled abroad to visit his elderly mother and to work with lawyers in London. This time, according to the oligarch, he was going to return to the country in two weeks, but after being accused of illegal border crossing, he is now "thinking about it," UP writes.
The author of the article, Mykhailo Tkach, suggests that "law enforcement agencies feared that when Ukraine became suspicious of Boholiubov, Boholiubov himself might no longer be in Ukraine".
Sources told UP that Boholiubov and his wife had been planning to move to Vienna since the beginning of the year after she took up her new position, but the order to transfer Dzhaparova was never issued. A source in the Foreign Ministry said that the decree appointing Dzhaparova as Ukraine's permanent representative to international organisations had been cancelled as of the evening of 9 July.
What is known about Hennadii Boholiubov's departure?
Earlier, Censor.NET reported that SBI officers served a notice of suspicion to former Privatbank co-owner Hennadii Boholiubov and a border guard who assisted him in illegal border crossing. The border guard has already been imposed a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention with an alternative of bail of UAH 25 million.
Earlier, the media reported that the former co-owner of Privat Group, Boholiubov, left Ukraine using forged documents. It was also reported that the State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case of Boholiubov's departure from Ukraine.
