TEL AVIV – Tel Aviv’s District Court on Dec. 7 refused to satisfy Israel Discount Bank’s (IDB, Tel Aviv) motion to reject or suspend consideration of the claim of PrivatBank (Kyiv) against the ex-owners of the bank regarding the embezzlement scheme of $600 million and ruled that the claim to the IDB should become the subject of a full-fledged trial.
The court also ordered the IBD to reimburse the court costs to PrivatBank, the bank’s press service said on Dec. 9.
According to the bank, now the IBD is obliged to file an objection to the claim of PrivatBank and provide explanations about the events and circumstances that led to the withdrawal of more than $600 million from PrivatBank by transferring them to a bank account opened with the IBD.
The press service recalled that on Dec. 18, 2019, PrivatBank filed a lawsuit against its former owners and other defendants in the Tel Aviv District Court regarding a scheme for embezzling $600 million, which was withdrawn from PrivatBank in the period from 2007 to 2011 and placed on a bank account in Israel Discount Bank.
PrivatBank addressed the IBD with a claim as one of the co-defendants in Israel in connection with the alleged assistance of IBD in the misappropriation of PrivatBank’s funds, in particular, the transfer of funds to the IBD bank account in Israel and in connection with the failure to take any action to refuse or block such operations.
On Dec. 18, 2016, the government of Ukraine, referring to the proposal of the National Bank and former shareholders of PrivatBank, decided to nationalize this largest financial institution on the Ukrainian market and injected over Hr 155 billion into its capital.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, PrivatBank as of Oct. 1, 2020, in terms of total assets, ranked 1st (Hr 600.15 billion) among 74 banks operating in the country.
