Naive simplicity from Gontareva, Shlapak and Kolomoisky

Kolomoisky left Privatbank, but his spirit will be with us for a long time. It seems that the former owners of the nationalized Privatbank have prepared many “wonderful discoveries.” And Ukraine will not limit itself to the purchase price of 148 billion hryvnia, and the 15,516 billion spent on refinancing.

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Suddenly (!) news arrived that 17 million euros in the Privatbank correspondent account in the German Commerzbank were blocked. The chairman of the bank's board, Alexander Shlapak, stated this at a press conference, as reported by Ukrainian News.

“Today, indeed, our partner Commerzbank blocked 17 million euros in the Privatbank correspondent account. We are now finding out why they did this,” Shlapak said. But he is sure that there is no reason for this.

Unlike the chairman of the board of Privatbank, meticulous journalists do not have such confidence. For example, journalist Alexander Dubinsky, who published an extract about the blocking of the Privatbank correspondent account, as reported by STRANA.UA. The journalist has information, but Shlapak doesn’t? Who to believe?

Does Shlapak know that, by agreement with Commerzbank, the German bank has the right to write off money if Privatbank’s financial performance worsens? And the Germans believe that these indicators have worsened. A. Dubinsky states: “We are talking about the bank’s obligations under the long-term financing program for the purchase of fixed assets by Ukrainian enterprises (machines, combines, tractors, etc.). Such financing was provided under guarantees from the German state export agency. But even despite the existence of such guarantees, Commerzbank wrote off the money. According to the agreement, the Germans have this right in the event of a significant deterioration in the financial performance of Privatbank.”

What else does the management of Privatbank not know about? Do they know that Privatbank Eurobond holders are demanding that the Ukrainian authorities reimburse them for their investments in the bank’s securities?

They should have known, since the corresponding letter was sent on January 27 by the adviser to the securities holders committee - the law firm Dechert LLP (UK) - to the head of the presidential administration Igor Rainin, the chairman of the board of Privatbank Alexander Shlapak, the head of the National Bank Valeria Gontareva, the director of the Deposit Guarantee Fund persons (FGVFL) to Konstantin Vorushilin, US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine, the American Chamber of Commerce, the office of the International Chamber of Commerce and the American-Ukrainian Business Council. It seems that they only forgot to write in “Sportloto”.

Perhaps the bold and businesslike statement of the head of the NBU, Gontareva, made the day before, on January 26, made security holders nervous. She advised Eurobond holders to ask the former owner of Privatbank, Igor Kolomoisky, “where their money went.” This is what Gontareva stated at a briefing at the NBU. I wonder if when she made such a statement, she was hoping to reassure previous investors and attract new ones? After all, new ones are urgently needed. On the same day, she stated that the sale of Privatbank would become possible after a new strategy for the development of state banks appeared in Ukraine. “Now we must rewrite the strategy of state banks. For this purpose, the EBRD was invited to actively participate in the capital and financing of Privatbank, and in its strategic development,” said the head of the NBU.

How many people are there who want to participate in the financing of Privatbank and its “strategic development” if the head of the NBU sends investors in search of missing money, and the head of the bank does not know the details of the obligations of the institution entrusted to him?

And the fact that Privatbank will be resold after “nationalization” did not come as a surprise to anyone. In any case, the population of Ukraine will, as always, pay for the miscalculations, and most likely for deliberate sabotage.