The Supreme Court deprived the shareholders of Concord Bank, which is in the process of liquidation, of access to justice, which contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine. This conclusion was reached by lawyers interviewed by UNN after studying the relevant decision of the Cassation Administrative Court as part of the Supreme Court.
Context
Earlier, the courts of first and appellate instances recognized as illegal the decision of the National Bank of Ukraine to revoke the license of Concord Bank and ordered its cancellation. The NBU and the Deposit Guarantee Fund did not agree with these decisions and filed a cassation appeal. They demanded to cancel the court decisions and close the proceedings.
"Friends, the Supreme Court overturned two previous court decisions, by which we proved the illegality of the NBU's actions regarding the deprivation of Concord Bank's license. After 7 months of waiting for cassation, we received a decision that not only contradicts the law, but also common sense. We were not even summoned to court. The consideration took place in written proceedings - without hearings, without arguments, without the participation of the parties," reported Olena Sosedka on her Facebook page.
In paragraph 56 of the resolution, the panel of judges directly stated that no court in Ukraine is empowered to consider claims of shareholders of banks that are in the process of liquidation regarding unlawful actions or decisions of the National Bank of Ukraine.
In this resolution, the Cassation Administrative Court as part of the Supreme Court set forth a legal conclusion that, according to the peculiarities of the legal regulation of disputed legal relations, the claim of a former shareholder of an insolvent bank (in this case, a liquidated bank) is not subject to consideration either in administrative or in commercial proceedings, and by the subjective composition of the participants in legal relations does not fall under the jurisdiction of a civil court. That is, such claims are not subject to consideration by any court
Lawyers' opinion
Lawyers interviewed by UNN believe that in this way the shareholders of Concord Bank, which is in the process of liquidation, are deprived of their constitutional right to a fair trial.
"The published legal position of the Supreme Court actually deprives citizens and legal entities of the constitutional right to appeal to court. I can't even believe that such a thing could be written in a decision," said Oleksiy Bahanets, former Deputy Prosecutor General and lawyer, in a comment to UNN.
The same opinion is held by Oleksandr Babikov, former deputy head of the State Bureau of Investigation and lawyer. He is convinced that with such a decision, the panel of judges deliberately deprived Concord Bank shareholders of access to justice.
"Such an approach is a conscious violation of the guaranteed right to access to justice and a fair trial. Every person has the right to resolve disputed legal relations by an impartial court. Another approach is just an attempt by the state to avoid fulfilling its obligations to administer justice," he emphasized.
It should be noted that the Panel of Judges of the Supreme Court did not even consider the cassation appeals on the merits, but immediately canceled the decisions of the previous courts without giving them a legal assessment and closed the proceedings. That is, the Supreme Court in its decision did not in any way indicate that the decision of the National Bank of Ukraine to deprive Concord Bank of its license and withdraw it from the market was legal.
Add
Despite the war in Ukraine, the process of withdrawing banks from the market has not stopped. Thus, since February 24, 2022, liquidation has been initiated for 8 banks. In 2023, for the first time in Ukraine, not only bankrupt banks, but also profitable institutions fell under liquidation and license revocation - this refers to Concord Bank. As Olena Sosedka stated, at the time the regulator announced the decision to liquidate the bank, there were enough highly liquid assets in the financial institution to make all necessary payments within 2-3 weeks. But the process of bank liquidation is strictly regulated by law and can generally last up to three years.