Supreme Court not allows companies related to Surkis family to collect USD 350 million from PrivatBank

The Supreme Court has satisfied the cassation appeals of the Cabinet of Ministers and PrivatBank in case No. 757/7499/17 on the claim of six non-resident companies close to the Surkis family, against the state-owned PrivatBank, the Ministry of Finance and the government, to collect almost USD 350 million from PrivatBank.

This is stated in the bank's message, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

Thus, the panel of judges of the Civil Court of Cassation as part of the Supreme Court, consisting of judge-rapporteur Ye.V. Petrov, judges A.I. Hrushytskyi, V.M. Ihnatenko, I.V. Lytvynenko, A.S. Oliinyk prevented the collection of a considerable amount from the state bank, one of the largest taxpayers in the country.

"We welcome this decision of the Supreme Court. The victory in this case is not just a joint legal success of PrivatBank and the Cabinet of Ministers, it is a confirmation that the rule of law and justice are the basis of a democratic society... We expect the same results in other high-profile court cases," Gerhard Boesch, Chairman of the Board of PrivatBank, noted.

The case of the "Surkis companies" was considered by the courts in 2017, and in the Supreme Court in 2020.

For the first time in the history of Ukraine, we are talking about the collection of funds on the basis of a court decision to secure a claim.

PrivatBank welcomes the decision of the Supreme Court and hopes that this high-profile case will have consequences for those involved in the odious and illegal decisions on securing the claim that were overturned by the Supreme Court.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, at the end of 2016, during the nationalization of PrivatBank, funds placed by non-resident companies (CAMERIN INVESTMENTS LLP, SUNNEX INVESTMENTS LLP, TAMPLEMON INVESTMENTS LLP, BERLINI COMMERCIAL LLP, LUMIL INVESTMENTS LLP, SOFINAM INVESTMENTS LLP) in the deposit accounts of the Cyprus branch of the Bank, were included in the bail-in procedure, as the National Bank of Ukraine recognized the Surkis family and their companies as persons related to PrivatBank.

In addition to two lawsuits that are currently pending in Ukrainian courts of different jurisdictions (Pecherskyi District Court of the city of Kyiv and the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal), the specified non-resident companies are simultaneously trying to obtain the necessary decision in a court in Cyprus (case No. 2510/2017).