2024-05-07T19:40:00+03:00 Economy 2024-05-16T04:01:48+03:00

Ukrainian news

Court once again confirms impossibility of returning PrivatBank to its former owners

Court once again confirms impossibility of returning PrivatBank to its former owners

The Economic Court of Kyiv has confirmed the impossibility of returning the state PrivatBank to its former owners.

This is stated in the NBU message, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

Thus, the decision of the Commercial Court of the city of Kyiv of May 7, 2024 closed the proceedings on invalidating the contracts for the sale of PrivatBank, as a result of which the state acquired 100% of the bank's shares in December 2016, and the obligation to return the shares of the bank to the former shareholders.

The case was opened at the lawsuit of former shareholders of PrivatBank Ihor Kolomoiskyi and the Cypriot company Triantal Investments Ltd against the National Bank, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Finance, PrivatBank, and the Deposit Guarantee Fund.

According to Viktor Hryhorchuk, Head of the Litigation Office at the Legal Department of the National Bank, the court closed the proceedings on the basis of the norms of the Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Certain Laws and Regulations of Ukraine Concerning the Improvement of Banking Regulation Framework" No. 590-ІX. Indeed, in accordance with this law, proceedings with such claims are subject to closure.

The plaintiffs formed such claims, the result of which is the return of their shares of the bank, but the law expressly prohibits this, which the court stated.

Viktor Hryhorchuk also recalled that in accordance with Article 41 of the Law of Ukraine "On the System of Guaranteeing Deposits of Individuals" after concluding an agreement on the purchase and sale of shares of an insolvent bank and their transfer to an investor, the state as an investor cannot be deprived of ownership of the shares of the bank acquired by it, while such shares cannot be sought in favor of the previous owner.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court on February 15, 2023 upheld the ruling of the Commercial Court of the city of Kyiv of June 2, 2021, which closed the proceedings in the case on the claim of the former chairman of the board and minority shareholder of PrivatBank Oleksandr Dubilet on invalidating the contracts of purchase and sale of PrivatBank.

Currently, the courts of Ukraine have closed proceedings in more than 30 court cases on claims of persons related to PrivatBank on invalidation of contracts of purchase and sale of PrivatBank.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to enter the capital of PrivatBank on December 18, 2016.

The transition of PrivatBank to state ownership took place in accordance with Article 411 of the Law of Ukraine "On the System of Guaranteeing Deposits of Individuals."

The state spent more than UAH 155 billion on the capitalization of PrivatBank.