Kyiv court suspends hearing on Privatbank nationalization

The Kyiv Economic Court decided to suspend a hearing
on the claim of former Privatbank shareholder Ihor Kolomoisky requesting to
reverse the the bank’s nationalization in December 2016, local media reported
on Oct. 17. In its ruling, the court decided to await the results of another
hearing in an administrative court where Kolomoisky also has demanded to cancel
the privatization. He gained an interim victory in the Kyiv Administrative Court
on Apr. 18, while the government filed an
appeal. The administrative appellate court has yet to initiate a hearing on
this case, so there is no information on its timing, Viktor Hryhorchuk, a
lawyer for the National Bank of Ukraine (opposing Kolomoisky in the hearings),
told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Oct. 17. He also stressed that
earlier, the economic court ignored requests to suspend its hearing, but
ultimately agreed to hold it.

Alexander Paraschiy: We can
conclude from Hryhorchuk’s comments that local court rulings on Kolomoisky’s
claims won’t happen soon. On the one hand, uncertainties and risks for
Privatbank’s future remain. On the other hand, it seems that realization of
such risks (if any) is a question for the long term. The key issue now is whether
such “freezing” of local court battles on Privatbank’s nationalization will be
enough to renew Ukraine’s active negotiations with the IMF on a new loan
program. So far, we remain optimistic on that matter and hope to hear more
updates once Ukraine’s delegation returns in the next few days from the
IMF/World Bank annual meeting.