Bogolyubov initiates lawsuits against Privatbank nationalization

Former Privatbank
(PRBANK) co-owner Gennadiy Bogolyubov has filed four complaints to Kyiv’s
economic courts contesting the bank’s 2016 nationalization, the nv.ua news site
reported on Oct. 20. The media highlighted that this is the first time
Bogolyubov has sued against the bank’s nationalization. In the claims, he has
asked the court to determine his stake in the bank, declare the sales-purchase
agreement of the bank’s shares as illegal, return the shares and declare his
rights to own the shares.

Recall, within three
days after Privatbank was declared insolvent in December 2016, the Deposit
Guarantee Fund increased its share capital by 138% to UAH 50.7 bln, and sold
all the old and new shares of the bank to Ukraine’s Finance Ministry for a
symbolic price of UAH 1. Before the bank was declared insolvent, Bogolyubov was
a direct owner of a 33.3% stake. In November 2017, Bogolyubov, as a British
citizen, sent the Ukrainian government an
official notice of claim demanding to either return his Privatbank shares or
compensate his losses.

Alexander Paraschiy: This move opens another front of pressure on Privatbank and the
government in the battle against the bank’s bail in and nationalization, but
the prospects of this complaint do not look solid. Recall, Ukraine’s parliament
adopted a law in May 2020 that prohibits the return of failed banks into the
hands of its former shareholders (the so-called anti-Kolomoisky law), and only allows them to count on some compensation for the lost
property.