On September 16, the Kyiv Commercial Court granted the application of former top managers of the bankrupt Delta Bank and left without consideration the claim of the Guarantee Fund to them for compensation of damages in the amount of UAH 19.83 billion.
The defendants in this case (No. 910/7186/19) included the former head of the Supervisory Board of Delta Bank, its former majority shareholder Mykola Lahun, as well as former members of the Board and Supervisory Board of this bank (Olena Popova, Vitalii Masiura, Fihlus Martsin, Yaroslav Porokhniak, etc.).
The court made its decision on the ground that "claims for recovery of damages in the amount specifically determined by the plaintiff for each individual loan agreement are separate claims, which are not bound neither by the grounds nor by the evidence presented, and are not essential or derivative of each other, since the satisfaction of some does not affect the satisfaction of others" (quote).
Background
Earlier Deposit Guaranty Fund estimated possible losses of Delta Bank creditors "as a result of bringing it to bankruptcy" (quote) in the amount of at least UAH 24.5 billion.
At the same time, Deposit Guarantee Fund stated that the market value of Delta Bank`s assets was determined by an independent appraiser at the level of UAH 27.4 billion, or 30% from the amount indicated "on paper" as of 01.01.2017 (UAH 94.27 billion).
On June 1, 2019, the depositors of Delta Bank received UAH 15.74 billion (96.9% of the planned payments) in compensation within the guarantee amount. By the middle of March 2018 Delta Bank`s debt on refinancing to the NBU amounted to UAH 8 billion.
On July 4, the Commercial Court of Kyiv City opened proceedings in case No. 910/7338/19 on the claim of the Guarantee Fund against Mykola Lahun for recovery of UAH 691.3 million "of damage caused to a legal entity by its official" (quote).
According to the court materials, the Guarantee Fund stated that the claims will be included in the liquidation balance sheet of Delta Bank.
On mid-March 2018, Delta Bank`s refinancing debt amounted to UAH 8 billion. In 2016, the National Bank reported on attempts to recover UAH 767 million from Lahun under a property warrant (land plots).
According to Deposit Guarantee Fund data, on January 1, 2019, the depositors of Delta Bank received UAH 15.7 bln of guarantee amount (in total these payments will amount to UAH 16.2 bln.).
On Jul 10, 2019 the Supreme Court refused to satisfy the cassation appeal of the Guarantee Fund and left unchanged the decision of the lower courts in the case No. 910 / 14734/18, by which the Fund was returned its statement of claim (through failure to eliminate its shortcomings) to the former shareholders and top managers of Kreditprombank (including Mykola Lahun) on recovery of UAH 532.9 million.
On March 19, 2019, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv City partially satisfied the claim of Ukreximbank against Mykola Lahun (in case No. 757/3996/15-ц) and resolved to recover from the defendant in favor of the plaintiff the debt under the loan agreement No. 151311K25 dd. 29.12.2011 in the amount of USD 38.3 mln and UAH 19.3 mln. At the same time, the court rejected the counterclaim of Lahun to Ukreximbank on recognition of the surety agreement as invalid.
On October 11, 2017, the Supreme Court canceled the decision of the Superior Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases dd. 15.02.2017 in the case No. 757/22651/15-ц and upheld the decision of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv City dd. 12.03.2016 and the decision of the Court of Appeal of Kyiv City dated 12.03.2016 and the resolution of the Kyiv City Court of Appeal dated 05.10.2016, according to which Mykola Lahun, as a guarantor of Delta Bank`s debt obligations (under the contracts of correspondent account as of 2010-2011), shall return USD 111.8 million, EUR 12.45 million and UAH 948 million (over UAH 4 billion) to Oschadbank.
On January 9, 2019, the Kyiv City Court of Appeal by its ruling (the unchanged resolution of the Supreme Court dd. 28.02.2019) satisfied the appeal of Mykola Lahun and annulled the resolution of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv City dd. 19.09.2018 which refused opening of proceedings in the case of the former owner of Delta Bank No. 757/44918/18-ts on his lawsuit against Oschadbank for invalidation of the surety agreement (Delta Bank is the third party to the dispute).
On September 19, the Sixth administrative court of appeal refused to satisfy the appeal complaints of NBU and “Agro Holdings (Ukraine) Limited” company (which joined to “Agroprosperis Bank”, Deposit Guarantee Fund, liquidator of Delta Bank) and affirmed decision of the District administrative court of Kyiv city dated 26.04.2019 (in case No.826/8333/15), which satisfied a claim of Kalouma Holding Limited and cancelled the NBU’s resolution No.186 dated 19.03.2015 of referring Astra Bank to an insolvency category.