VICTORY: There is justice after all!

Today, on February 15, 2023, the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court delivered a landmark ruling that makes it impossible to return PrivatBank, nationalized in 2016, to its former shareholders. After hearing the positions of the parties in the court proceedings brought by the former CEO of PrivatBank Oleksandr Dubilet, who tried for years to regain the shares of the state-owned bank through Ukrainian courts, the Supreme Court granted the cassation appeals of PrivatBank and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

For the first time, the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court applied Law No. 590. The adoption of this Law was one of the priority steps for the approval of the financing program for Ukraine by the International Monetary Fund, which was welcomed at the level of the IMF, the EU, and G7 ambassadors, and which was named historical by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. Such is the Law of Ukraine and such are the final conclusions of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, which fully supported the position of the state-owned PrivatBank today.

We thank the legal team of PrivatBank and all representatives of the state—the National Bank of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the Office of the Prosecutor General, and the Deposit Guarantee Fund, as well as the mass media. To everyone who upheld and defended the position, who supported and cheered for the interests of the state.

To recall, on May 13, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted Law No. 590, which was aimed at eliminating gaps in Ukrainian legislation that previously allowed courts to resuscitate insolvent “zombie” banks following their resolution. In addition, this Law finally made it impossible for nationalized banks to be restored to their former owners. Further, Law No. 590 clearly defined the prerequisites and procedure for obtaining compensation by the former owners of resolved banks, as well as its form – in particular, monetary compensation is the only way to protect the rights of former bank shareholders. Under this Law, all other court proceedings, including those aiming to restore the title to shares or invalidate agreements executed within the resolution procedure where the state was involved, must be closed.