Court postpones consideration of Kolomoiskyi’s PrivatBank lawsuit for May 7

The Ministry of Finance asked to leave the lawsuit without the consideration; however, the court dismissed the application.

Censor.NET reports citing Interfax.

Kyiv Economic Court postponed the consideration of the lawsuit of Ihor Kolomoiskyi for May 7. He asks to recognize the contract on the sale of PrivatBank as null and void.

Only at the end of February 2019, Kyiv Economic Court took up the lawsuit of Kolomoyskyi and Triantal, the owners of 41,6572% and 16,5748% of the shares of PrivatBank, on the recognition of the contract on the sale of this bank dated December 21, 2016, null and void.

The court also granted the application of the claimants and demanded from the defendants, Finance Ministry, Fund Deposit Guarantee and State Ukrgazbank, to provide the mentioned contract on sale until March 26.

Earlier, Kolomoiskyi, the Ukrainian oligarch and former owner of Privatbank, demanded to give him back two billion U.S. dollars of the bank's assets. He might, in turn, give up this financial institution.

Read more: Kolomoyskyi goes to court to demand PrivatBank shares back

The decision to nationalize Privatbank was made in December 2017. 100 percent of its shares were handed over to the state. The IMF supported that decision, stating that it's an important step to secure Ukraine's financial stability.

The Finance Ministry stated that the privatization of the state banks should take place after the fulfillment of some conditions, particularly, the imposing of the new corporate governance and settlement of the problems.

The Economic Court of Kiev is considering a lawsuit of oligarch Kolomoyskyi on invalidation of the contract of sale of PrivatBank shares. Prior to nationalization, Kolomoiskyi owned 41.6572% of PrivatBank shares, Triantal Investments Ltd - 16.5748% of shares.

In December 2016, the Government of Ukraine, at the suggestion of the National Bank of Ukraine and the shareholders of PrivatBank (at that time the largest shareholders were Ihor Kolomoiskyi and Hennadiy Boholiubov), approved a decision on the nationalization of PrivatBank. The bank was transferred into the state ownership, and the state spent more than UAH 155 billion to increase its capitalization.

In September 2018, the Kyiv District Administrative Court confirmed the validity of the decision taken by the National Bank of Ukraine to classify the PrivatBank as insolvent, rejecting the suit of a bank’s client.

Recently, Kolomoiskyi stated that he hoped to receive compensation for PrivatBank after the elections.