Ukrainian Court Rules Nationalization Of PrivatBank Violated The Law
A court in Ukraine ruled on April 18 that the government’s decision in 2016 to nationalize the country’s biggest lender violated the law.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) vowed to appeal the ruling, arguing it would be impossible to reverse the nationalization of PrivatBank.
The bank was founded by the tycoon Ihor Kolomoyskiy who in the past filed multiple court cases against the decision.
Kolomoyskiy is also a backer of Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the comic actor facing off against incumbent Petro Poroshenko in the country’s presidential runoff on April 21.
Opinion polls show Zelenskiy with a sizable lead over Poroshenko ahead of the vote.
In 2016, the government wrestled PrivatBank from Kolomoyskiy and then propped up the lender with billions of dollars.
The government wants to recover money it says was siphoned out while Kolomoyskiy owned it. Kolomoyskiy denies any wrongdoing and says the bank was forcibly nationalized without proper justification.
"The court ruling has yet to come into effect and will be appealed by the NBU,” Viktor Hryhorchuk, head of litigation at the central bank's Legal Department, said in a statement.
Lawsuits challenging the nationalization of PrivatBank "deal irreversible damage to Ukraine's international image," the central bank said in the same statement.