On 7 September 2018, the Supreme Court dismissed a cassation appeal by Meligant Group Ltd. – a shareholder of Unison Bank PJSC – against the ruling of the High Administrative Court of Ukraine dated 14 February 2017, which upheld lower courts’ rulings dismissing the shareholder’s claims.
Thus, the court of the highest authority finalized the lengthy legal proceedings, which started back in May 2016 in the District Administrative Court of Kyiv. At that time, the bank’s shareholder filed a lawsuit seeking to cancel the NBU’s decision of 28 April 2016 that declared the bank insolvent.
The Order of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv dated 23 June 2016 rejected the claim of Meligant Group Ltd.
Refusing to accept the decision of the court of first instance, the plaintiff appealed against it, but lost that case as well. The ruling of the Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeal of 2 August 2016 dismissed the appeal by the shareholder of Unison Bank PJSC and upheld the Order of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv. The High Administrative Court, with which the plaintiff filed a cassation appeal, made the same ruling.
The rulings of the three courts did not convince the plaintiff, and it turned to the court of last resort. Following a thorough examination of available evidence in the case, the Supreme Court found no grounds for the satisfaction of the cassation appeal.
As a side note, the NBU declared Unison Bank PJSC insolvent on 28 April 2016 due to its non-transparent ownership structure. At the time of the decision, shareholders of Unison Bank PJSC included 11 companies incorporated in the Republic of Cyprus, and none of them held a share of 10% or more in the bank’s authorized capital.
The decision on the liquidation of this bank was made by the NBU at the request of the Deposit Guarantee Fund on 18 June 2018.