Court of Appeal confirms that Privatbank cannot be returned to Kolomoisky
11 September 2024 09:33
The Northern Commercial Court of Appeal in Kyiv has confirmed that Privatbank cannot be returned to its former owners. This was reported by the bank’s press service, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
It is noted that the court closed the proceedings on the claim of former PrivatBank shareholders Ihor Kolomoisky and the Cyprus company Triantal Investments Ltd.
Prior to the nationalisation of the bank, Kolomoisky owned 41.7% of the bank’s shares, and Triantal owned 16.6%.
“Thus, the court confirmed the legitimacy of the actions of the court of first instance to close the proceedings on the basis of Law 590-IX “On the Deposit Guarantee System”, the statement said.
PrivatBank’s lawyer Viktor Tarasenkov explained that in this case, the plaintiffs challenged the sale and purchase agreement for PrivatBank shares concluded during the nationalisation procedure and also demanded the return of PrivatBank shares to their ownership.
“The court applied the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On the Deposit Guarantee System”, which clearly indicate that the bank’s shares cannot be returned to the former owners after the sale to the investor, and, in accordance with Law 590-IX, closed the proceedings,” the lawyer said.
As a reminder, on 27 November 2023, the Kyiv Commercial Court closed the proceedings in a similar case brought by another former owner of the bank, G. Bogolyubov.
Earlier, on 15 November 2023, the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal in a case brought by I. Kolomoisky confirmed the impossibility of cancelling decisions and agreements made in the process of nationalisation of PrivatBank.
What Kolomoisky is accused of in Ukraine
Ihor Kolomoisky is currently in a Ukrainian pre-trial detention centre. Ukrainian law enforcement officers have served him with three notices of suspicion under several articles and cases.
on 2 September 2023, the SBU notified Kolomoisky of suspicion under two articles: fraud and legalisation (laundering) of the proceeds of crime. According to law enforcement officials, between 2013 and 2020, Kolomoisky legalised more than half a billion hryvnias by transferring them abroad and using the infrastructure of controlled banking institutions.
on 7 September, NABU detectives served another suspicion on Kolomoisky and five members of the group he organised – of misappropriating PrivatBank’s funds worth over UAH 9.2 billion.
on 15 September, the SBU served Kolomoisky with a third suspicion – of illegal actions with bank documents, seizure of property by an organised group through abuse of office, and money laundering. According to the investigation, between 2013 and 2014, Kolomoisky illegally seized UAH 5.8 billion through a criminal group consisting of employees of his PrivatBank.
on 3 September 2023, the court for the first time imposed a pre-trial restraint on Kolomoisky: detention with an alternative to bail in excess of UAH 509 million. However, already on 15 September, after a new suspicion was announced, the court re-selected the measure of restraint and increased Kolomoisky’s bail to UAH 3 billion 891 million.
After that, the court extended Kolomoisky’s detention four times, while reducing his bail twice – on 28 November to UAH 3 billion and on 21 December to UAH 2.7 billion.
on 28 February, Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi District Court extended Ihor Kolomoiskyi’s detention for another two months – until 25 April – and reduced his bail to UAH 2.4 billion.
It should be noted that on 8 May, Kolomoisky was served with a notice of suspicion of ordering the murder of a law firm director for personal revenge.
At the same time, back in 2005, a criminal case was already initiated against Kolomoisky in this regard, which was later closed. Back in 2015, former MP and current advisor to the head of the OP Serhiy Leshchenko wrote in his blog about why the case was closed and what it had to do with former Prosecutor General Sviatoslav Piskun and oligarch Viktor Pinchuk.
