Zelensky: Hard to defend Ukraine in PrivatBank case without rebooting of courts
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a press event in Kyiv on Thursday that it is hard for him to defend Ukraine in a lawsuit initiated by the ex-shareholders of PrivatBank without rebooting of courts.
"It is very hard to defend Ukraine – the courts haven't been rebooted yet. But we must do everything so that not a single kopiyka is paid to the former owners," Zelensky said, commenting on the situation related to the claim filed by the ex-owner of the bank Ihor Kolomoisky to retake PrivatBank's shares.
"In this issue, I must protect the interests of Ukraine," he said.
On December 18, 2016, the government of Ukraine, referring to the proposal of the NBU and the former shareholders of PrivatBank, the largest of which at that time were Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov, decided to nationalize the country's No. 1 bank and injected over UAH 155 billion into its capital. The ex-owners of the bank consider the nationalization unlawful, as a result of which they completely lost their shares, while PrivatBank and the government demand that the former shareholders additionally compensated damage.
At the end of February 2019, Kyiv's Commercial Court on the second attempt accepted for consideration the lawsuit filed by Kolomoisky and Triantal, who owned 41.6572% and 16.5748% of PrivatBank shares, respectively, regarding the invalidation of the sale and acquisition agreement dated December 21, 2016. The court also granted the plaintiffs' petition and requested the defendants – the Ministry of Finance, the Individual Deposits Guarantee Fund and state-owned Ukrgasbank – to provide the said document by March 26.
On October 8, it became known that Kyiv's Commercial Court, which is considering a claim filed by ex-shareholders of Kyiv-based PrivatBank Ihor Kolomoisky and Triantal Investments Ltd. to overrule an agreement dated December 21, 2016, on the sale and acquisition of the bank, concluded between the Finance Ministry and the persons who were then its shareholders, might take the final ruling on October 17.