Ukrainian authorities have asked a court to approve the pretrial detention of businessman Kostiantyn Hryhoryshyn, who is suspected of orchestrating the embezzlement of funds from an energy company deemed strategically important to the state.
The request, if granted by the court, would be largely procedural since Hryhoryshyn is currently outside the country. However, prosecutors say it represents a necessary first step toward securing an international arrest warrant that could lead to his extradition.
Hryhoryshyn has been listed as wanted in Ukraine since April under a notice of suspicion, though formal charges have not yet been filed.
Through his lawyers, the businessman has rejected the allegations, describing the investigation as driven by political motives rather than evidence of wrongdoing.
According to the Bureau of Economic Security, approximately 68 million Ukrainian hryvnia — about $1.3 million — was diverted from an energy provider between 2020 and 2024. Investigators allege that Hryhoryshyn, together with company executives, fabricated a consulting position that required only four hours of work per week but carried a monthly salary of 1.5 million hryvnia. The salary exceeded the maximum wage limit for energy companies by six times, according to Ukraine’s Security Service.
The targeted energy company is 25 percent state-owned and has been classified as strategically important infrastructure.
Property records have linked Hryhoryshyn to multimillion-dollar assets abroad. Luxembourg corporate registry documents show he is the beneficial owner of a firm that holds three plots of land in the Courchevel ski resort in the French Alps, where two chalets have been constructed. He also updated his registered address in November to a waterfront estate on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where local records show he has submitted planning applications for renovations.
Hryhoryshyn was placed under Ukrainian sanctions in 2025. According to financial publications, he was once co-owner of 160 energy companies, though his business holdings have shrunk significantly since the war began. He lost control of assets in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, and the government nationalized the Zaporizhzhia Transformer Plant, which had been part of his Energy Standard group.
The businessman was previously convicted in absentia in Moscow in 2020 on tax evasion charges.