Court of Appeal confirms lawfulness of PrivatBank's nationalization – NBU
The Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal on Wednesday closed the proceedings on the appeal by the ex-owners of PrivatBank (Kyiv) of the decision to withdraw it from the market with the participation of the state and confirmed the impossibility of returning the nationalized bank to the former owners, according to the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on Wednesday.
The court overturned the decision of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv dated April 18, 2019, which satisfied the claim of the ex-co-owner of PrivatBank Ihor Kolomoisky against the National Bank, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Deposit Guarantee Fund, the National Securities and Stock Market Commission for illegality and cancellation decisions to withdraw an insolvent bank from the market.
The NBU welcomes the court's decision and reiterates that the insolvent PrivatBank from the market was withdrawn in accordance with the norms of current legislation to ensure financial stability and preserve citizens' funds.
"Today, six years later, the court confirmed the impossibility of returning to the former owners of PrivatBank, for the additional capitalization of which the state spent more than UAH 155 billion. It should also be noted that all decisions of public bodies on the nationalization of PrivatBank are valid," the head of the claims department of the legal department at the NBU, Viktor Hryhorchuk, said.
According to him, the court applied the law No. 590-IX "On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine to improve the mechanisms for regulating banking activities" (so-called "anti-Kolomoisky" law -- IF-U).
"This is not the only case of appeal against nationalization, so we are talking about continuing to work, continuing to fight... However, this is the only case in which an odious decision was made by the administrative court on the illegality of nationalization. Today, this decision was canceled and the proceedings were closed," the head of the department for legal coordination of the activities of the state-owned bank, Oleh Lazovsky, said, commenting on the court verdict.
