The Ministry of the Interior and Administration of Poland has added a Warsaw-based company, Bastorehill Investments, to its sanctions list, suspecting it of being linked to Russian billionaire Oleg Boyko.
According to a statement by the Ministry, Bastorehill is associated with AS 4Finance, a company with headquarters in Latvia owned by 4Finance Holding, which is headquartered in Luxembourg and in turn is owned by Tirona Limited, based in Cyprus. Until May 9, 2022, AS4Finance was the owner of Vivus Finance, one of Poland’s largest credit institutions (currently operating under the brand name Soonly Finance).
In 2022, AS 4finance sold its shareholding in Vivus – the ownership change was due to concerns about possible sanctions imposed by Poland on Russian capital.
“Currently, AS 4finance is trying to return to the Polish financial market by acquiring the company Bastorehill Investments,” the Ministry of the Interior and Administration said. The ministry believes that 4finance is connected with the figure of Russian businessman Oleg Boyko, who became a shareholder of AS 4finance through Tirona Limited in December 2011.
Later, Oleg Boyko transferred his shares in the 4Finance group to his mother, Vera Boyko. After February 24th, 2022, she reduced her stake from 49% to 29.27%. These shares went to relatives of Oleg Boyko, including Taras Boyko, Denis Boyko, and Ekaterina Boyko.
Oleg Boyko ranks 109th in Forbes’ list of billionaires, with a fortune estimated at $1.2 billion. Oleg Boyko is the founder and head of Finstar Financial Group, an international group of companies with assets under management worth about $2 billion and offices in Cyprus, Serbia, and the UAE. In 2021, the company acquired the St. Petersburg-based SIAB Bank. In 2023, the bank changed its name to Finstar Bank.
Ukraine and Australia have sanctioned Oleg Boyko.
