The National Bank of Ukraine has launched legal proceedings in both Switzerland and Ukraine against Ihor Kolomoisky, one of the former shareholders of PrivatBank.
Both cases concern the enforcement of Mr. Kolomoisky's personal sureties given in 2016, in favour of the NBU, to guarantee repayment of the liquidity support loans extended between 2008 and 2015 by the National Bank of Ukraine to PrivatBank. In total, these claims seek to recover nearly UAH 10 billion due under five loan agreements.
The first claim was filed at Ihor Kolomoisky's current domicile in Switzerland, before the Tribunal de Premiere Instance in Geneva.
The second set of claims was filed at the location of Mr. Kolomoisky's property in Ukraine – to the Commercial Court of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
The National Bank of Ukraine is committed to compelling Mr Kolomoisky to honour the personal guarantees he gave in exchange for the extension of substantial state lending to PrivatBank at the time when it remained under his ownership and control. Mr Kolomoisky has shown himself unwilling to honour those guarantees voluntarily, despite the heavy burden that the Ukrainian state has had to bear through his conduct. As the present actions demonstrate, the National Bank of Ukraine is committed to pursuing claims against Mr Kolomoisky both in Ukraine and overseas in order to seek to hold him to account.
The National Bank of Ukraine is confident that both Swiss and Ukrainian courts will grant the legitimate claims of the NBU.
Commenting on the claims, Kateryna Rozhkova, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, said:
“These claims are key steps towards protecting the interests of the Ukrainian people and ensuring that PrivatBank’s former shareholders honour the obligations they took on.
“PrivatBank received multiple loans from the NBU, with personal guarantees provided by Mr. Kolomoisky. It is now clear that, at that time, PrivatBank was not actually able to repay these loans.
“In the end, the bank had to be nationalised at great cost to state – the equivalent of 5% of GDP – to protect the interests of millions of account holders and maintain financial stability overall. The NBU is now taking, and will continue to take, the right actions to seek to recover these outstanding amounts from Mr Kolomoisky.”