The National Bank of Ukraine has scored another victory in legal battles against the owners and guarantors of insolvent banks.
On 18 May 2017, the Kyiv Commercial Court sustained a claim filed by the NBU against Berlinotto Ltd, a company registered in Cyprus, allowing foreclosure on the portion of the equity rights owned by Megapoliszhytlobud LLC.
In March 2016, the NBU filed a lawsuit against Berlinotto Ltd demanding foreclosure on equity rights owned by Megapoliszhytlobud LLC to partially recover debts owed by the insolvent bank Nadra to the NBU.
Earlier, Megapoliszhytlobud LLC had taken out a loan from Bank Nadra against the collateral of equity rights for the unfinished construction project of the Respublika Shopping and Entertainment Center. Later Bank Nadra pledged these equity rights to the NBU as collateral for the refinancing loan.
After Bank Nadra was declared insolvent and failed to repay its debt of UAH 4.4 billion, the NBU took legal action to foreclose the lien on equity rights of the owner of the Respublika Shopping and Entertainment Center.
Having examined the merits of the case, the court ruled in favor of foreclosure on equity rights owned by Megapoliszhytlobud LLC.
The NBU notched up yet another victory in legal battles due to its consistent efforts to clean up the banking sector from insolvent banks. In April 2017, the court satisfied NBU claim allowing foreclosure on property of Kyiv Shipbuilding and Ship-repair Yard worth almost UAH 300 million, the property owned by the guarantor under the refinancing loan provided to Finance and Credit Bank PJSC.
However, the regulator’s efforts are hampered by court rulings allowing banks to resume their operation and overturning NBU decisions to resolve failed banks.