(Reuters) - A former co-owner of Ukraine's state-owned PrivatBank, who has been accused by the bank of helping orchestrate $2 billion in fraud, left Ukraine in June, the Ukrainska Pravda online news outlet reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.
Former co-owner Gennadiy Bogolyubov "left Ukraine on the night of June 24 by train," Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing sources in Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General and business circles. Reuters could not immediately verify the Ukrainska Pravda report.
PrivatBank, the country's largest lender, has accused Bogolyubov and Ihor Kolomoisky, its former owners, in a lawsuit filed in London of orchestrating sham loans and supply agreements between 2013 and 2014 to defraud it on an "epic scale". Ukraine nationalised the bank in 2016.
The case has been closely watched by politicians and investors as a test of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's willingness to pursue reforms and tackle the corruption which has blighted Ukraine for years, amid its ongoing war with Russia.
Kolomoisky has been in custody in Ukraine on suspicion of fraud since 2023.
Bogolyubov travelled through Poland to Austria, the report said. His press service told Ukrainska Pravda that he left the country legally.
Bogolyubov and Kolomoisky both deny any wrongdoing. They say there was no misappropriation from PrivatBank, which they argue has no evidence they had any knowledge of, or involvement in, the alleged fraud.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
