UPDATE: Ukraine’s central bank says gave no consent to sell VEB.RF’s unit

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KIEV, Mar 6 (PRIME) -- The National Bank of Ukraine did not consent to selling shares in Prominvestbank, affiliate of Russia’s VEB.RF, to anyone, the regulator said in a statement on Friday.

“The National Bank has not received the documents to give its consent to the acquisition of a significant stake in Prominvestbank. This means that the National Bank has not consented to the acquisition of a significant stake in this bank by any other entity than the current owner,” the authority said.

VEB.RF said on Thursday that Ukraine sold shares of Prominvestbank to an unknown buyer at an auction on Wednesday in violation of international law.

VEB.RF said, citing Senior Vice President of the Legal Department Igor Krasnov, that the sale of the stake did take place but without consent of the authority. “Completion of the deal without a permit of the National Bank of Ukraine is an additional reason to invalidate the deal,” the bank said.

In the spring of 2018, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague supported the companies of tycoon Igor Kolomoisky and obliged Russia to redeem about U.S. $140 million of their losses in Crimea. In September of 2018, a Kiev court arrested shares of Ukrainian subsidiaries of Russia’s state-owned banks Sberbank, VTB Bank, and VEB.RF.

In January 2019, the Supreme Court of Ukraine upheld decisions of the lower courts, but said that only property of the Russian Federation can be arrested under the case, while property owned by other companies should not be arrested.

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