Ihor Kolomoisky is deprived of Cypriot citizenship

The Cypriot government has stripped businessman and unofficial owner of Dnipro-1, Ihor Kolomoisky, of his Cypriot citizenship, Philenews reported on Saturday, September 14.

The Cabinet of Ministers made this decision after it was confirmed that "the passport was obtained under false pretenses and with concealment of important information, some of which concerned criminal charges against the Ukrainian oligarch."

The government's decision also notes that even before his candidacy for citizenship was considered, "it was obvious" that Kolomoisky was a person of "suspicious character," as he was called, and his naturalization "poses a serious risk of further deterioration of reputation for the Republic of Cyprus."

"The passport was taken away mainly because Kolomoisky failed to disclose in his application that criminal cases were opened against him for tax evasion in Russia back in 2008, and he received citizenship in June 2010," Philenews reports.

In May, Kolomoisky was accused of organizing a contract killing. Earlier, he was served with three suspicions. The first one concerns the seizure of 570 million hryvnias from Ukrnafta, the second one concerns the seizure of Privatbank's funds worth more than 9.2 billion hryvnias, and the third one concerns the seizure of 5.8 billion hryvnias through fraudulent deposits in Privatbank. Kolomoisky has been in custody since September 2 last year.