Disappearance and Document Fraud
A criminal group fabricated documents in an attempt to claim the property of inventor Mykola Kolbun, who vanished in Bucha in March 2022. Three individuals are implicated: Anna Miroshnychenko, Yevhenii Khyzhniak, and Islam Osmanov. Miroshnychenko and Khyzhniak were formally suspected at the end of March 2022, while Osmanov, who lives in Austria under the name Dima Neuberg, has been declared a suspect in absentia. This case highlights the vulnerabilities of property rights during wartime, when individuals can go missing without a trace.
Mykola Kolbun disappeared in occupied Bucha, and the attempts to reassign his property began in 2023. According to Miroslava Svystovych, Kolbun's second cousin and former mayor of Irpin,
"Anya [Anna Miroshnychenko] had influence over him, and he listened to her advice. In business matters, she was an authority figure for him."Svystovych also noted that Kolbun kept spare keys to his office with Miroshnychenko, which gave her access to critical information.
Investigation Uncovers a Forged Testament
The investigation revealed that a forged will was created to process the property transfer. Law enforcement officials stated that 'a genuine will from Mykola Kolbun never existed at all.' The counterfeit document was based on another person's will dated May 8, 2020, notarized by a private notary in the Kyiv City Notarial District. A copy of this fake will was seized from Miroshnychenko during a search.
The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv refused to open a case to declare Kolbun deceased, as his whereabouts remain unknown. Simultaneously, investigators are checking the involvement of approximately twenty other people in the scheme. As a source in law enforcement noted,
"The fraudsters approached this case so creatively that they used a laser to remove the original signature from the will."
Final decisions in the case are pending, but investigators continue working to uncover all circumstances surrounding Mykola Kolbun's disappearance and the document forgery.
This case draws attention to the criminal exploitation of assets belonging to persons who have gone missing during the war and the potential schemes that arise in such situations. The disappearance of Mykola Kolbun and the forgery of documents to claim his property may point to a broader issue of property rights during conflict, requiring thorough investigation. Law enforcement must not only expose those guilty in this specific case but also prevent similar frauds in the future.
As the investigation into the fraudulent attempts to appropriate Mykola Kolbun's assets unfolds, it draws parallels to other recent cases involving missing individuals and their estates. For instance, another group has been uncovered in Bucha, allegedly conspiring to take control of a missing scientist's property. This highlights a troubling trend of exploitation during times of conflict. To learn more about this ongoing issue, read about the plot against a missing scientist's estate.