Ukrainian Court Rules Nationalization Of PrivatBank Violated The Law
A court in Ukraine ruled on April 18 that the government’s decision in 2016 to nationalize the country’s biggest lender violated the law.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) vowed to appeal the ruling, arguing it would be impossible to reverse the nationalization of PrivatBank.
The bank was founded by the tycoon Ihor Kolomoyskiy who in the past filed multiple court cases against the decision.
Kolomoyskiy is also a backer of Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the comic actor facing off against incumbent Petro Poroshenko in the country’s presidential runoff on April 21.
Opinion polls show Zelenskiy with a sizable lead over Poroshenko ahead of the vote.
In 2016, the government wrestled PrivatBank from Kolomoyskiy and then propped up the lender with billions of dollars.
The government wants to recover money it says was siphoned out while Kolomoyskiy owned it. Kolomoyskiy denies any wrongdoing and says the bank was forcibly nationalized without proper justification.
"The court ruling has yet to come into effect and will be appealed by the NBU,” Viktor Hryhorchuk, head of litigation at the central bank's Legal Department, said in a statement.
Lawsuits challenging the nationalization of PrivatBank "deal irreversible damage to Ukraine's international image," the central bank said in the same statement.
Based on reporting by UNIAN, Reuters, AP, and AFP
Fresh Poll Shows Zelenskiy Maintains Large Lead Over Poroshenko In Ukraine Vote
By RFE/RL
KYIV – A fresh opinion poll shows Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedic actor with no political experience, far ahead of incumbent Petro Poroshenko just days before Ukraine’s presidential runoff.
The poll issued on April 18 by the research group Reiting showed Zelenskiy with 57.9 percent of the vote and Poroshenko at 21.7 percent. Reiting polled 3,000 voters in all regions, except annexed Crimea, from April 12-16.
A previous poll by Reiting from April 5-10 gave Zelenskiy 61 percent while Poroshenko received 24 percent.
Zelenskiy, who stars on a TV comedy series about a teacher who becomes president after denouncing corruption, won nearly twice as many votes as Poroshenko in the first round of voting on March 31.
Poroshenko’s popularity has plummeted as many Ukrainians blame him for the country’s slow pace of reform and for failing to tackle corruption.
The fresh opinion poll comes a day ahead of a key debate between the two candidates at Kyiv’s 70,000-seat Olimpiyskiy Stadium.
Writing on Twitter on April 17, Zelenskiy said 12,000 seats had been booked just a half hour after the free tickets were made available to the public.
The two men took drug tests earlier this month at Zelenskiy’s insistence in a campaign that has been marked by theatrics on both sides.
Poroshenko’s campaign team said on April 17 that supporters will be bused in for free for the event, according to Interfax.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said a crowd of “up to 60,000” was expected to attend the debate and that security would be beefed up.
His comments on April 17 come after Ukrainian authorities announced they had captured a Russian military intelligence hit squad responsible for the attempted murder of a Ukrainian military spy ahead of the presidential runoff.
The issue of how to deal with Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014 and backs separatists in eastern Ukraine, is prominent ahead of the vote, with Poroshenko casting himself as the commander in chief Ukraine needs to defend the country.