State-owned PrivatBank on Wednesday paid UAH 21.8 million to Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant (Dnipropetrovsk region), executing the decision of Kyiv's business court dated December 17, 2019, the bank has said in a press release.

According to the press release, at the same time, the bank appealed the court's decision, finding the judgement of the court of first instance unlawful, and the actions of the picket organizers as another attempt to pressure the bank.

"The execution of the decision of the court of first instance makes absolutely groundless the holding of the mass picket of the "employees" of the plant, which continues from September 2019 in front of the central offices of the bank in Dnipro and Kyiv. The protests were designed to harass and interrupt the operations of the bank, to put pressure to our employees and customers," the bank said.

The picketers resort to deliberate actions provoking conflicts with the bank employees, blocking passageways and exits from the bank offices and impeding the normal operation of the office. In total, 134 complaints from bank employees and other citizens were registered by the police on the facts of the violations of the law.

As reported, before the nationalization of PrivatBank, the plant acted as a guarantor on the refinancing loan, which the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) issued to PrivatBank. In May 2018, the NBU filed a lawsuit with the Economic Court of Dnipropetrovsk region seeking foreclosure on movable property owned by the plant. This property was pledged as security for the obligations of PrivatBank on the refinancing loan.

The business court in Dnipropetrovsk region on August 28, 2019 approved an amicable agreement between the NBU and the plant, the initiator of which was the latter. According to the agreement, the plant undertook to repay the debt of PrivatBank on the refinancing loan in the amount equal to the market value of the collateral property to which the NBU foreclosed in this process. The company had time to repay the entire amount of obligations in the amount of UAH 21 million under the agreement within 12 months in equal installments without a commission. However, on September 6, 2019 the plant ahead of schedule fulfilled its obligations to the NBU under the amicable agreement.

In September 2019, plant employees began picketing the head office of PrivatBank in Dnipro, and in November-December last year they took part in rallies near the buildings of the NBU in Kyiv.

The co-owners of Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant are former shareholders of PrivatBank Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov.