NBU sues Kolomoisky to recover UAH 10 bln in loans

The National Bank of Ukraine reported on June 11 it
has launched legal proceedings in Switzerland and Ukraine against Igor
Kolomoisky, one of the former shareholders of Privatbank (PRBANK), demanding to
return refinancing loans on which Kolomoisky provided personal sureties. In
total, these claims seek to recover nearly UAH 10 bln due under five loan
agreements, the NBU reported. The NBU “is committed to compelling Kolomoisky to
honor the personal guarantees he gave in exchange for the extension of
substantial state lending to Privatbank,” the NBU statement said, adding that
“Mr. Kolomoisky has shown himself unwilling to honor those guarantees
voluntarily.”

According to Privatbank’s annual report for 2017, it
had overdue loans from the NBU in the amount of UAH 10.7 bln. Information that
Kolomoisky has provided personal surety on the NBU’s refinancing loans appeared
in the bank’s annual report for 2015. At that time, the total debt of the bank
under refinancing loans was UAH 27.1 bln. Privatbank was recognized insolvent
and nationalized in December 2016.

Alexander Paraschiy: It’s hard
to expect any consequences from the NBU’s claims against Kolomoisky, given that
Ukraine’s procedure of reclaiming overdue refinancing loans foresees
withdrawing money from the correspondent accounts of a bank, which has yet to
be attempted. Only in the event that the amount of money at a bank’s
correspondent accounts is insufficient to repay the loan can the NBU claim
collateral and sureties.

Most likely, this lawsuit is meant to serve as a
warning to other businessmen who have signed personal sureties under
refinancing loans provided to their banks. Namely, the next claims could be
directed towards Kostyantyn Zhevago, the key shareholder of Ferrexpo (FXPOLN, FXPO
LN) and Oleg Bakhmatyuk, the owner of Ukrlandfarming (UKRLAN) and key
shareholder of Avangardco (AVGR LI, AVINPU).