Ukrainian Prime Minister Welcomes National Bank's Plan To Appeal Ruling On PrivatBank

Ukrainian Prime Minister Welcomes National Bank's Plan to Appeal Ruling on PrivatBank

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman expressed on Thursday his support for the plans of the National Bank of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Finance Ministry to appeal Kiev's District Administrative Court's decision to declare the 2016 nationalization of the country's PrivatBank illegal

KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th April, 2019) Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman expressed on Thursday his support for the plans of the National Bank of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Finance Ministry to appeal Kiev's District Administrative Court's decision to declare the 2016 nationalization of the country's PrivatBank illegal.

The court announced this ruling earlier in the day, substantiating it with the fact that the Ukrainian government had failed to provide legal grounds for identifying PrivatBank as insolvent, which had triggered the nationalization procedure, and with violations in the nationalization procedure. The National Bank of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Finance Ministry promptly said that they intended to appeal the ruling.

"I support their stand that the decision, firstly, has not taken legal effect yet and, secondly, should be appealed in compliance with [relevant] procedures ... I care about preservation of depositors' and state funds ... They should be protected and preserved. And lawyers will figure out the other details within the framework of the judicial system," Groysman said, as aired by the Ukrainian Pryamiy broadcaster.

When asked whether the court ruling could be attributed to alleged links between Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoyskyi, who was one of PrivatBank founders back in 1992, and Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Groysman said that he did not want to politicize the matter.

"I don't want to politicize this issue ... There is a court ruling, and relevant bodies will appeal it ... This is what we should focus on," the minister said, suggesting that proceedings could take many months.

The Ukrainian government nationalized PrivatBank, which then held around one-third of all deposits in Ukraine, in December 2016, referring to the need to protect its customers and avert a meltdown of the Ukrainian economy.

Kolomoiskiy's claim against the National Bank of Ukraine, the Ukrainian cabinet of ministers, the Deposit Guarantee Fund and the National Securities and Stock Market Commission has been under consideration since June 2017.