Sometimes the details are more important than the big picture. For example, what is the connection between Viktor Medvedchuk and the well-known Ukrainian financial group ICU?
In mid-September, the Shevchenkivskyi Court of Kyiv scheduled a hearing in the ‘coal case’. The case involves former President Petro Poroshenko, former MP Viktor Medvedchuk, businessman Serhiy Kuzyara and former Minister of Energy and Coal Industry (2014-2016) Volodymyr Demchyshyn.
It is not certain that the hearing will take place. Like in a legendary anecdote, the defendants have managed to delay the inevitable for many months. In particular, Viktor Medvedchuk’s lawyers asked to postpone the hearing to September, and the court once again listened to them. That’s how it happened that the SBI completed the investigation on 2 September 2022, but since then, the court hearing has been postponed for various reasons. It is quite possible that the defendants are waiting for a change of government in Ukraine to hush up the case.
From the point of view of the current government, the situation is very strange. It is no secret that any case involving Medvedchuk is politically important. The government should be interested in winning the case and maximising PR. Perhaps Poroshenko, who is making superhuman efforts to prevent the case from being heard, is an obstacle.
But the coal case has an even more remarkable aspect. This is the role of the éminences grises of Ukrainian politics under Poroshenko – the ICU companies. Demchyshyn is one of its representatives.
Please note that Petro Poroshenko was sanctioned by the National Security and Defence Council for the ‘coal case’. Viktor Medvedchuk can also boast of being sanctioned. Demchyshyn, on the other hand, has not received any sanctions, and ICU is not on the list of companies that may be subject to the mechanism.
What is the secret of his success? Could it be that Demchyshyn played a secondary role? To understand this, let’s delve into the essence of the charges in the coal case.
The investigation believes that Medvedchuk, Poroshenko and Demchyshyn organised the scheme. They prevented coal imports from South Africa, instead promoting coal from the occupied territories. In simple terms, an artificial deficit was created, which had to be urgently covered with energy from the ATO (Anti-Terrorist Operation zone). Coal was supplied by companies controlled by Medvedchuk to the Ukrainian state-owned company Tsofentrenergo (which unites several thermal power plants). The volume of deliveries reached UAH 3 billion ($190 million). The money went to the territories controlled by the DPR/LPR and was allegedly used to finance the separatists. This is where the treason charges come from.
From this, we can conclude that Demchyshyn is by no means a passing character, or even a victim of circumstances. He deliberately acted in favour of Medvedchuk. He did so for a long time, keeping the scheme viable. In fact, Demchyshyn was appointed to implement the criminal scheme. This meant, among other things, that he had the trust of not only Poroshenko but also of Medvedchuk.
It is time to recall that from 2008 to 2014, Demchyshyn was the head of the investment banking division of the Investment Capital Ukraine (ICU) group. He was also a shareholder of the group, albeit a junior one to Valeriia Gontareva, Makar Paseniuk and Kostyantyn Stetsenko.
Until 2014, the company was considered to be an intermediary that provided special services to the authorities – Viktor Yanukovych’s entourage. In addition, it is well known that ICU actively helped Petro Poroshenko in solving his business issues. In particular, the company helped to arrange the sale of the Ukrainian Media Holding (UMH) to the ‘young oligarch’ Serhiy Kurchenko.
It was probably then that Demchyshyn met Poroshenko. In 2014, the president appointed him to the post of Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine. It is not known whether Demchyshyn enjoyed Poroshenko’s personal trust, or whether the guarantees from ICU’s senior partners Valeriia Gontareva and Makar Paseniuk played a role. But the fact is that there was trust. At that time, the investment group was a real “forge of personnel” for Poroshenko. In particular, NBU Governor Valeriia Gontareva and NKREKU (National Commissions for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities) Chairman Dmytro Vovk came from there.
Demchyshyn served as Minister from December 2014 to April 2016. The ‘coal scheme’ worked smoothly, and Demchyshyn himself officially acknowledged the fact of coal supplies from the occupied territories.
https://www.slovoidilo.ua/2015/11/30/novyna/ekonomika/postavky-vuhillya-iz-zony-ato-zalezhat-vid-postachannya-elektroenerhiyi-v-krym-demchyshyn
It was only after the change of power in Ukraine that the defendants in the case were brought to justice. On 12 November 2021, the Security Service of Ukraine, together with the State Bureau of Investigation, served Poroshenko, Medvedchuk, Kuziara and Demchyshyn with a notice of suspicion of aiding terrorist organisations. The former Energy Minister was a key figure. According to the SBU, between December 2014 and February 2015, it was Demchyshyn who appointed representatives of the so-called ‘DPR’ and ‘LPR’ to senior positions at state-owned enterprises in the occupied territories. In addition, he forced the management of the state energy generating company Centrenergo to sign contracts with them, including for the supply of coal worth over UAH 3 billion.
https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/features-59740790
Today, the former minister has the official status of a fugitive from justice. On 19 November 2021, the SBI summoned Demchyshyn for questioning, but he did not appear. Since then, the former minister has been hiding from the court.
And now here is a spicy moment. While Demchyshyn was minister, and even after that, he remained a shareholder in ICU. On 23 December 2021, the Pechersk Court announced that it had arrested the former minister’s assets, including 9.99% in Avangard Bank, 100% of Lozonsco Finance Ltd, and 9.99% each in ICU Holdings Limited and Westal Holdings Ltd. All of these are ICU Group structures.
After the seizure of Demchyshyn’s assets, ICU Group issued a denial. It stated that Demchyshyn had no longer been a shareholder since… November 2021. In other words, the group confirmed that he was a shareholder until November 2021. You will agree that he withdrew from the group’s co-owners in a very timely manner – just before he came under the suspicion of the SBU and the SBI. Most likely, he was warned and allowed to escape.
https://reform.energy/news/bank-avangard-ta-icu-povidomili-sud-pro-vidsutnist-eks-ministra-demchishina-sered-ikhnikh-spivvlasnikiv-19534
His status as a shareholder means that Demchyshyn participated in the distribution of profits from ICU’s joint projects with the authorities. The profits must have been considerable, because in Poroshenko’s time, the company was considered Poroshenko’s “financial shadow”. That is, it was a structure that served the government’s backroom decisions. DTEK’s Eurobond scheme alone brought in hundreds of millions of hryvnias in profit. It is highly likely that Demchyshyn and other shareholders of the group can be suspected of high-level corruption.
You would agree that it is very symbolic that no full-fledged anti-corruption investigation has been conducted against ICU. For years, the investigation pretended that Demchyshyn was guilty only of official misconduct and sponsoring terrorism, but not of corruption.
https://biz.nv.ua/rus/publications/finansova-tin-poroshenko-2447390.html
https://daily.rbc.ua/ukr/show/makar-pasenyuk-dela-belyh-vorotnichkov-1557925336.html
Now let’s put all these facts together. Volodymyr Demchyshyn was accused of treason. The nature of his crime is probably confirmed by open data. He was one of the main defendants in the ‘coal case’ and enjoyed the trust of Poroshenko and Medvedchuk. At the same time, he remained a shareholder in the ICU group, which helped to service numerous backroom government projects. It is all the more surprising that ICU remained out of sight of Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies for years.
I can’t guarantee it, but it seems as if ICU is already providing financial services to the current Ukrainian government. Alternatively, the group has a powerful international patron, with whom even the Office of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has to reckon. These two versions explain the ICU’s strange invulnerability better than any other.
To add to the intrigue, let me remind you of several other high-profile cases involving the group. The absence of movement in them also testifies to the surprising invulnerability of the ICU.
- The Kurchenko case and Yanukovych’s billions
ICU was suspected of money laundering carried out by associates of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, in particular by the oligarch Sergiy Kurchenko. In November-December 2013, ICU acted as a broker in the purchase of Ukrainian government bonds in favour of eight Cypriot companies controlled by Kurchenko as part of a money laundering scheme. The purchase of foreign currency government bonds from Oschadbank, in which ICU acted as a broker for non-resident companies for more than UAH 2 billion, was mentioned. I do not know the status of this case.
https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/ruling-exposes-poroshenko-allies-ties-yanukovych.html
- Rotterdam +
A former ICU employee, Dmytro Vovk, is accused in this case. He was appointed by Poroshenko as the head of the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Utilities, after which the scheme known in Ukraine as Rotterdam+ was launched. In August 2025, the case was finally closed, but only in the part that concerned the legal capacity of the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities.
https://focus.ua/uk/ukraine/721193-sprava-rotterdam-ostatochno-zakrita-rishennya-shchodo-zvilnennya-vid-vidpovidalnosti-nabulo-chinnosti-zmi
Earlier, the NABU investigation into ICU was terminated, and this is a very suspicious decision. Most likely, there was insider trading. The ICU group bought the debts of Ukraine’s largest energy company, DTEK, at a large discount. After that, Vovk, the head of Ukraine’s energy regulator, approved Rotterdam+, a new principle for calculating electricity prices that saw the energy companies’ profits soar. The value of DTEK’s securities increased significantly after this decision, bringing ICU a considerable profit. Investigators claimed that Vovk acted in collusion with ICU Group entities (Investment Capital of Ukraine LLC, ICU Asset Management Company LLC, ICU Investment Management Ltd, CIS Opportunities Fund SPC Ltd and Global Opportunities Fund SPC Ltd), but then for unknown reasons, they stopped the investigation. Let me remind you that Demchyshyn was also among the shareholders at that time.
- Oschadbank’s money and the Avangard bank case
ICU and its shareholders (Makar Paseniuk and Konstantin Stetsenko) are involved in a criminal case related to the misappropriation of interest from the frozen assets of the former Ukrainian subsidiary of the Russian Sberbank. The Ukrainian government bonds belonging to the sanctioned bank were for some time held on the accounts of Avangard Bank, owned by Paseniuk and Stetsenko. The financiers skilfully “turned around” these bonds and earned UAH 949 million on them. Which they later embezzled.
The Cabinet of Ministers and the National Bank of Ukraine opposed the proposal. Paseniuk and Stetsenko were offered a deal: the state would turn a blind eye to the scheme if they transferred the embezzled money to United24 accounts. They refused. Now, the state is seeking to recover about $47.5 million from ICU, Avangard Bank, Paseniuk and Stetsenko in a civil case. In November 2023, the NBU removed Paseniuk and Stetsenko from the supervisory board of Avangard Bank, claiming that they did not meet the “qualification requirements for professional suitability”. In April 2025, the Supreme Court confirmed the legality of the NBU’s decision.
https://epravda.com.ua/publications/2024/01/29/709246/
One must admit that ICU’s involvement in Medvedchuk’s coal case is revealing. The numerous facts of ICU’s involvement in high-profile criminal trials in Ukraine are even more revealing. Their invulnerability seems incredible. How it is possible to be involved in so many backroom operations without being sanctioned, or at least without a reputational hit, is incredibly intriguing.
