Before his resignation Smolii lost an action to Kolomoiskyi regarding refinancing guarantee

On June 19, the Economic Court of Kyiv fully satisfied the lawsuit of Ihor Kolomoiskyi against the National Bank of Ukraine and Privatbank (in case No. 10910/5172/19), and on July 27, the Northern Economic Court of Appeal opened an appellate proceeding on the National Bank’s appeal petition against the specified judgment of the first instance.

In his lawsuit, Ihor Kolomoiskyi asked to invalidate the guarantee on refinancing loans that Privatbank had taken out at the National Bank of Ukraine within the period before nationalization. As per the court documents, according to the ex-co-owner of Privatbank, the authorized persons of the National Bank of Ukraine did not have sufficient authority to conclude at least one relevant loan agreement, given the lack of a quorum at the Board Meeting of the National Bank of Ukraine (during the period before nationalization).

Let us recall, on July 1 the National Bank of Ukraine reported that Yakov Smolii, the then head of the National bank, wrote the resignation letter. On July 3, Verkhovna Rada accepted the resignation of Yakov Smolii and dismissed him from the post of Head of the National Bank of Ukraine.

According to Finbalance, in the first half of June, the National Bank of Ukraine withdrew a number of lawsuits against guarantors of Privatbank for refinancing, including Dniproazot; Erlan, PJSC; Privatoffice, LLC; Hajibay, LLC; Perspective Investment, LLC.

This happened against the background of the fact that in February-April Privatbank fully repaid debts to the National Bank of Ukraine for refinancing, having paid 7.5 billion UAH. According to the National Bank, on May 01, 2020, Privatbank had no refinancing debts. At that, at the beginning of 2017, that is, in fact immediately after nationalization, the number of debt obligations of Privatbank to the regulatory institution amounted to UAH 18 billion.

In June 2018, the National Bank of Ukraine filed 143 lawsuits against legal entities that gave property in pledge for the National Bank as collateral for Privatbank’s refinancing debts. The National Bank of Ukraine’s claims on these lawsuits amounted to UAH 10 billion. The defendants included Dniproazot; Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant, PJSC; Marganets Mining and Processing Plant, JSC; Pokrovsky Mining and Processing Plant, JSC; Tovkachivsky Ore Mining & Processing Integrated Plant, PJSC; Agroterminal Logistics, LLC; Skorzonera, LLC; Podil Nerukhomist, LLC; Erlan, PJSC; Privatoffice, LLC; Hajibay, LLC; Zhovtnevyi Hotel, PJSC; Finance company Finilon, LLC; Akvatera, LLC; Arlan, LLC; Aerobud, PJSC; Everest Estate, LLC; Perspektiva Investment, LLC; UKRNDIINZHPROEKT, PJSC; Ukrinterinvest, LLC; Dniprometalservice, PJSC; Trovelko Holdings Limited; Pennylane Commerce International LDA, etc.

Previously, Privatbank refrained from repaying refinancing at the urging of the National Bank of Ukraine, which was guaranteed by Ihor Kolomoiskyi and related structures, hoping to stimulate the process of repaying a corporate debt to the bank.

The National Bank of Ukraine announced dubious transactions in Privatbank (including insider credit granting) in the period before nationalization for $ 5.5 billion. Ihor Kolomoiskyi denied this information.

Let us recall that on April 20, 2019, the Pecherskyi District Court of the City of Kyiv satisfied one of Ihor Kolomoiskyi’s lawsuits and terminated the personal guarantee agreement on refinancing loans received by Privatbank from the National Bank of Ukraine before the state entered the capital of the financial institution.

In June 2019, the National Bank of Ukraine stated that based on the April decision of the Pecherskyi District Court of the City of Kyiv, Ihor Kolomoiskyi was trying to block the consideration of the National Bank of Ukraine’s claim for UAH 6.64 billion, which was filed in Geneva (Switzerland). The National Bank also expressed the opinion that the new lawsuits filed by Ihor Kolomoiskyi for invalidation of the refinancing guarantee were again “an attempt by Ihor Kolomoiskyi to stop and further prevent the consideration of cases, initiated by the National Bank of Ukraine” (quotation).

In June-July 2019, the Economic Court of the Dnipropetrovsk region initiated proceedings in several cases (No. 904/2526/18, No. 904/2529/18, No. 904/2530/18, No. 904/2538/18) on the action of the National Bank of Ukraine against Ihor Kolomoiskyi on the recovery of a total of UAH 4.85 billion in refinancing debt.