After the war, Sense Bank will be returned to Friedman, – Austrian lawyers

Nationalization of Sense Bank had signs of selectivity, and suspicions brought against Mykhailo Fridman in Ukraine are unlikely to be convincing to British law enforcement agencies. After the war, the government is likely to sign a peace agreement with Sense Bank's shareholders and return the financial institution to them as compensation for the damage caused by nationalization. 

Taras Dumych, Managing Partner in Ukraine of the Austrian law firm Wolf Theiss, told this in an interview with Economic News.

"The dispute between the shareholders and the government over compensation for the nationalization of the bank would be the likely consequence (of nationalization - ed.)," said Taras Dumych.

According to the lawyer, the government's actions in the Sense Bank issue have lost their rationality due to political pressure.

Different options could have been chosen, and we could have tried to make shareholders allies. There may have been attempts to do so, but they failed, so the bank was nationalized. Perhaps there was some public pressure or the government felt that some assets were being nationalized while others were not.

The lawyer emphasized that the nationalization process requires compensation to the owners of the nationalized property, in this case the shareholders of Sense Bank.

"Nationalization does not cancel compensation. This compensation should be effective, prompt, and take into account the value of the nationalized property. No sanctions, whether domestic or international, resolve the issue of compensation. We cannot rule out the possibility that in the future the government will return the bank to the shareholders in the form of compensation, and they will sign a settlement agreement," said Taras Dumych.  

The lawyer stressed that the return of the bank to the main shareholder Mykhailo Fridman will be possible only after the war between Russia and Ukraine ends.

"Currently, in Ukraine, beneficiaries who are Russians are not reimbursed because there is a legal restriction that if the beneficiary is Russian, they are not reimbursed. Until the war is over, it is unlikely that it will move very much on the part of the shareholders," said Taras Dumych.

In his opinion, the suspicion brought against Mykhailo Fridman will not affect a possible lawsuit between Ukraine and the government, as similar claims can be brought against a large number of international investors.

"At the same time, the amount of such critical mass of measures against him (Mykhailo Fridman - ed.), against Aven, is one more, one less. Here, the NACP maintains a register of international sponsors of war. But they also pay money, taxes, and finance. And they should have been suspected. It is unlikely that Fridman is involved (in the activities of the Alfa Group in Russia - ed.) Are they involved in decisions about financing or insuring assets? If not, it will be difficult for Ukraine to use this suspicion effectively in the UK and engage the British authorities in cooperation," summarized Wolf Theiss.

As a reminder, on July 22, 2023, Sense Bank was nationalized. The Luxembourg-based investment company ABH Holdings said it considers such actions to be illegal expropriation and that the charges against Mykhailo Fridman are political pressure.

The Austrian company Wolf Theiss represents the interests of Western companies and legal entities in Ukraine. In particular, the company's lawyers are defending British investor Tamaz Somkhishvili in a lawsuit against the Kyiv City State Administration, which also involved the British law firm Zaiwalla & Co. As you know, Mykhailo Fridman is a tax resident of the United Kingdom.

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