Ukrainian oligarch and former PrivatBank owner Ihor Kolomoisky was hit with another lawsuit on June 11 from the National Bank of Ukraine in Switzerland and Dnipro’s commercial court.
The country’s central bank said in a statement that it had sued the Geneva-based businessman for Hr 10 billion ($383 million) over five loans that the government gave to PrivatBank between 2008 and 2015 to stabilize the lender.
The NBU claims that PrivatBank received the money under Kolomoisky’s personal guarantee.
The 55-year old oligarch did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
“The National Bank of Ukraine is committed to compelling Mr. Kolomoisky to honor the personal guarantees he gave in exchange for the extension of substantial state lending to PrivatBank at the time when it remained under his ownership and control,” the NBU said in a statement. “Mr. Kolomoisky has shown himself unwilling to honor those guarantees voluntarily, despite the heavy burden that the Ukrainian state has had to bear through his conduct.”
The Ukrainian government nationalized PrivatBank in December 2016, filling a $5.6 billion hole in the bank’s capital. Ukrainian officials allege that Kolomoisky used the lender as his personal piggy bank, embezzling billions through a series of loans from the bank to offshores and business partners under his control.
“The bank had to be nationalized at great cost to state – the equivalent of 5 percent of GDP – to protect the interests of millions of account holders and maintain (Ukraine’s) financial stability overall,” said NBU Deputy Governor Kateryna Rozhkova.
Kolomoisky and his business partner Gennadiy Boholyubov deny the allegations. They argue that the nationalization is part of a campaign by President Petro Poroshenko to destroy their business empire and drive them out of Ukraine.
In December, the now government-owned PrivatBank sued its former owners in London over the alleged embezzlement scheme. That decision has resulted in a $2.5 billion asset freeze on Kolomoisky and Boholyubov’s assets. Additional court cases from former business partner Vadim Shulman and oil firm Tatneft have also battered the Geneva-based oligarch over the past year.
But Kolomoisky himself appears to have focused on winning back the PrivatBank in Ukrainian courts. Companies affiliated with the billionaire have filed dozens of lawsuits in Ukrainian courts against the decision to nationalize it.
Kolomoisky himself has explicitly stated that his strategy is to win back control of the bank through the Ukrainian judicial system.
“The whole London process would then end, since I can’t sue myself,” he said in a recent interview.
The NBU declined to make a copy of its complaint against Kolomoisky available, citing “bank secrecy.”
