PrivatBank files new lawsuit for $5.5 bln in Cyprus against ex-owners

State-controlled PrivatBank has filed a new lawsuit in Cyprus courts, demanding compensation in the amount of $5.5 billion for the schemes bearing all the signs of fraud and money laundering, which, according to the bank, were committed by its former shareholders Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov, former first deputy chairman of the board Timur Novikov and two Cypriot companies, PrimeCap (Cyprus) Limited and Duxton Holdings Limited, the bank has reported.

According to the bank, the new lawsuit was filed in Cyprus on April 3, 2020, after a Cypriot court had issued a document preservation order against PrimeCap.

The bank stated in a release that the lawsuit relates to two sets of operations that, according to the bank, were unlawfully carried out between 2013 and 2016 at the direction of its former owners with the assistance of other defendants and included significant amounts paid to the companies owned and/or controlled by Kolomoisky and Boholiubov. The bank claims that they were fictitious loan agreements, none of which were repaid.

In particular, these operations include a scheme in which $2.34 billion was sent to the Cypriot company Duxton Holdings Limited, associated with the former shareholders of the bank, with almost daily tranches of $30 million over a four-month period in 2013, the financial institution said in a statement.

Following this lawsuit, the total claims of PrivatBank against Kolomoisky and Boholiubov in Britain, Cyprus, the United States and Israel exceeded $10 billion.

The bank remains committed to receiving full compensation from its former owners in respect of damage incurred during the time when it was in their possession and under their control, and achieving justice for both the bank and Ukrainian taxpayers, according to the document.