Today, 23 September 2019, the Kyiv Court of Appeal has canceled the ruling of the Baryshivka District Court of Kyiv Oblast dated 11 June 2019, thus granting the NBU’s appeal against that ruling. As previously reported, the ruling forbade Kateryna Rozhkova to participate in the meetings of the NBU Board and to discharge her duties as NBU First Deputy Governor.
In addition, the Kyiv Court of Appeal made a separate decision concerning Judge Kostiantyn Kovalenko of the Baryshivskyi District Court of Kyiv Oblast.
In its appeal, the NBU presented the court with the following arguments:
- No court has the power to ban the NBU or members of the NBU Board from fulfilling their duties
- Applicable laws do not stipulate the grounds on which a court could terminate or suspend an NBU Deputy Governor or otherwise ban them from pursuing their mandate.
“We welcome the decision of the Kyiv Court of Appeal, as it is in full compliance with Ukrainian law. Our appeal referred to a grave breach of procedural and substantive law that the court of first instance committed as it reached its verdict. This demonstrates the weakness of the unreformed justice system, where any entity can file a lawsuit without authentic documents or a legitimate cause of action and thus obtain a court ruling that can stall the operation of any government authority,” said Viktor Hryhorchuk, Head of the Litigation Office at the NBU Legal Department.
The NBU has informed the High Council of Justice and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine about the blatant miscarriage of justice perpetrated by Judge Kovalenko of the Baryshivskyi District Court of Kyiv Oblast.
We have previously reported that in a similar action last year, Verkhovna Rada lawmakers Ihor Lutsenko and Oleksandr Dubinin sought a court ruling that would restrict Ms Rozhkova’s capacity to fulfill her official duties. On 15 May 2018, the Kyiv Court of Appeal granted the NBU’s appeal and confirmed the legitimacy of Ms Rozhkova’s mandate as NBU First Deputy Governor. As regards the lawsuit by Oleksandr Dubinin, the Ternopil City District Court of Ternopil Oblast dismissed it without a hearing.
In a similar lawsuit, the Solomianskyi District Court of Kyiv has attempted to ban the NBU and its consultants from taking certain actions. As a result, the NBU filed a complaint with the High Council of Justice, which on 2 April 2019 ruled to dismiss Judge Liudmyla Kiziun of the Solomianskyi District Court of Kyiv under Article 126 section 6 paragraph 3 of the Constitution of Ukraine.