NBU sues MP Dubinsky for alleged slander

Kyiv's Solomiansky District Court has already opened proceedings on the claim.

"On November 12, Kyiv's Solomiansky District Court opened proceedings on a claim made by the National Bank of Ukraine against Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleksandr Dubinsky regarding the protection of the central bank's business reputation," the report reads.

It notes that the NBU demands that Dubinsky refute untrue information he spread on the Internet (on the websites youtube.com and facebook.com).

"In particular, the deputy said that the National Bank's leadership, represented by NBU Chairman Yakiv Smolii and First Deputy Chairman Kateryna Rozhkova, allegedly organized a 'thievery scheme,' which consists of the deliberate withdrawal of banks from the market for bribes from their shareholders for subsequent repayment of compensation to them from the state budget. The MP cited the example of Radical Bank's withdrawal from the market in 2015 and the alleged payment by the National Bank in favor of fugitive businessman Serhiy Kurchenko of pecuniary damage in the amount of UAH 128 million," the NBU said.

In this regard, the NBU emphasized that accusations of organizing a thievery scheme to remove banks from the market are groundless and absurd, mislead society and "are aimed at defaming the impeccable business reputation of the NBU's leadership, discrediting the banking sector and undermining trust in the National Bank."

Radical Bank was withdrawn from the market because of a serious breach in the sphere of cash circulation, which jeopardized the preservation of depositors' funds, the NBU said.

According to the report, the information that the central bank "helps Serhiy Kurchenko by paying him UAH 128 million from the budget" is also not true.

"The National Bank did not compensate or and does not help either Serhiy Kurchenko or Radical Bank's shareholder, Industrial Innovation Company LLC. The National Bank published an official refutation in this regard in September this year," the NBU said.

The NBU demanded that Dubinsky refute unfounded accusations defaming the NBU's leadership and the decisions of the central bank by publishing the refutation on the websites youtube.com and facebook.com.

Earlier, the NBU board stated that an attack on the NBU, which has been going on for several weeks, is being carried out by former PrivatBank owner Ihor Kolomoisky, who owes the state $5.5 billion. The main "executor" of the attack, according to the central bank, is MP Oleksandr Dubinsky, "a person involved in anti-corruption investigations, who is called the mouthpiece of oligarch Kolomoisky in the media."

On December 18, 2016, following the proposal of the NBU and former shareholders of PrivatBank (the largest of them being Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov), the government decided to nationalize Ukraine's largest bank.

To save the bank, the state conducted additional capitalization for over UAH 155 billion.

The bank's former owners consider nationalization illegal. Litigation is ongoing both in Ukraine and abroad.

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