Ukraine sells shares of VEB.RF unit Prominvestbank illegally

MOSCOW, Mar 5 (PRIME) -- Ukraine sold shares of Prominvestbank, a local unit of Russian development institution VEB.RF, to an unknown buyer in an auction on Wednesday in violation of international law, VEB.RF plans to advocate its interests in the court, the institution said in a statement on Thursday.

Earlier this week, the Stockholm arbitration court confirmed prohibition to sell shares of Prominvestbank.

“Shares of VEB.RF’s Ukrainian unit Prominvestbank were sold in an illegal auction on March 4, 2020, for 268,709,960.78 Ukrainian hryvnas despite the decision of the Stockholm arbitration court prohibiting the sale of the shares. No information about the buyer is available,” the statement read.

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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