Part of SOTP Faction Urges Colleagues to Adopt “Anti-Kolomoisky Law” to Avoid Default
20 MPs from the ruling Servant of the People faction wrote an appeal to colleagues in the faction and other MPs calling for support for the bill that would prohibit the return of nationalized banks to former owners.
20 MPs from the ruling Servant of the People faction wrote an appeal to colleagues in the faction and other MPs calling for support for the bill that would prohibit the return of nationalized banks to former owners.
This bill is also known as "anti-Kolomoisky" because its main purpose is to prevent PrivatBank's return to its former shareholders – oligarchs Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholyubov. The two businessmen are trying to take back control of the bank through the court.
A corresponding call on their Facebook pages was published by 20 “servants of the people”.
These are Maryna Bardina, Nikita Poturaev, Tetyana Tsyba, Lisa Yasko, Dmytro Bulakh, Yegor Chernev, Liza Bogutskaya, Anastasia Krasnosilska, Dmytro Gurin, Anna Bondar, Vadym Halaychuk, Viktoria Podgorna, Geo Leros, Bogdan Kytsak, Andrey Motovilovets, Vitalik Bezgin, Ivan Yunakov, Oleksandr Marikovski, Ihor Vasyliv, Iryna Borzova.
"This bill eliminates the risks of unbalancing Ukraine's financial system and unreasonable burden on the state budget at the difficult time of a global economic crisis," the statement reads.
READ MORE: Servant of the People Splits Over "Kolomoisky Question"
The authors of the statement stress that the adoption of this bill is the only way for Ukraine to continue cooperation with the International Monetary Fund and avoid a default. One of the requirements of the IMF for Ukraine is to guarantee that PrivatBank is not returned to its former shareholders.
Parliamentarians are confident that without cooperation with the IMF, Ukraine will face default and at least 10 years without international investors working with our country.
“The state assets will be bought for nothing. The hryvnia will fall, inflation will spiral out of control, unemployment will rise. And our country will fall ever lower,” the statement reads.
READ MORE: “No Basis to Return Privatbank to Kolomoisky” - Zelenskyy Administration
The MPs called on the Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy to immediately consider the bill to bring it to the session hall as soon as possible.
At the same time, three alternative bills – 3260-1, 3260-2 and 3260-3 – have already been registered on the Rada website.
Their authors, respectively, are Kolomoisky’s associate MP Ihor Palytsia, a Servant of the People MP Oleksandr Dubinsky, who is also associated with Kolomoisky, and another Servant of the People MP Olga Vasylevska-Smaglyuk, who worked at the 1+1 channel which belongs to the oligarch.
Thus it is people associated with Kolomoisky who are delaying the consideration of the bill, which will render the return of PrivatBank to the oligarch impossible. The text of "alternative" projects is not available yet, so it is unknown what they are proposing.
Both Palytsia and Dubinsky are members of the Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy. The former is its secretary and the latter is the deputy chairman.
The final text of the bill no. 3260 was approved by the IMF.
READ MORE: 7 Answers About Ukraine’s Cooperation with the IMF
Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund agreed to launch a new cooperation program on December 7, 2019, by signing the Staff Level Agreement, a preliminary agreement that signifies the IMF's intention to enter into a loan program with Ukraine. The total funding stipulates $5.5 billion over three years for Ukraine.
The IMF Board of Directors is yet to approve the new Ukraine program. However, this has not happened yet. One reason is that Ukraine has failed to meet the IMF's previous requirements. Among them is the adoption of a law that would not prevent PrivatBank's return to its former owners. The IMF also wants Ukraine to open up the land market.