Members of the Surkis family, whose deposits of UAH 1.1
bln were bailed-in during the nationalization of Privatbank (PRBANK) in
December 2016, won another legal battle against the bail in, the
ukranews.com.ua site reported on Nov. 8, citing the press service of Ukraine’s
National Bank. Namely, the Appellate Administrative Court of Kyiv rejected on
Nov. 6 an attempted appeal of a lower court ruling that obliged the bank to restore the lost depositsof the family members. The National Bank of Ukraine told Ukrainian News that it
has already filed a cassation of the latest ruling to the High Administrative
Court of Ukraine.
In other news related to the bank, Ukrainian News
reported that a former large shareholder of Privatbank, U.K. citizen Gennadiy
Bogolyubov, sent the Ukrainian government on Nov. 6 a legal complaint to
compensate him for the “unlawful expropriation” of his stake and his deposits
in the bank. He promised to sue the government in an international court.
Alexander Paraschiy: Whatever the reason behind the questionable ruling in favor of the
Surkis family (from a legal standpoint), it only increases the probability that
the entire bail-in process can be reversed in the courts, including the full
dilution of Privatbank’s Eurobonds. In our view, it is unlikely that
Bogolyuybov will succeed in his demands, but it is clear that Ukraine’s legal
costs related to the nationalization of Privatbank will be very high.