The European Party of Ukraine considers the nationalization of PrivatBank as a cynical and unprecedented act in the banking and financial history of Ukraine. The state nationalized the bankrupt bank that will become a burden for taxpayers and will have negative consequences for the entire banking and financial system of Ukraine. The total amount of the financial hole of PrivatBank according to various estimates is around 150 billion.
We believe that the “nationalization” of the bank is illegal. Current legislation of Ukraine does not provide such a procedure. Thus the state will meet the obligations of the two private shareholders, Kolomoysky and Bogolyubov, who violated banking and antitrust legislation of Ukraine, bringing the bank to artificial size. The fate of multibillion-dollar loans that shareholders of PrivatBank gave without collateral to their stakeholders, related to offshore front companies, is still unknown.
The European Party of Ukraine draws the attention of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Ukraine’s Security Service and other law enforcement agencies to the need to give a legal assessment of the situation with Privatbank and bring the perpetrators to justice. Thus the NBU officials, shareholders, and management of Privatbank should be checked. Along with this, we believe that the National Bank and the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine should provide smooth and stable operating activities of the customer service of Privatbank.
We require the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to immediately review legislation in terms of bankruptcy, restructuring and liquidation of large systemic banks and give the definition of the process of nationalization and reprivatization of banks to avoid future legal and legislative conflicts.
From now on, the responsibility for financial stability, the hryvnia exchange rate and inflation in Ukraine as well as monitoring compliance with antitrust legislation, lie solely on the shoulders of the state leadership.
Press service of the European Party of Ukraine