Kolomoisky’s PrivatBank can be nationalized

A bill on measures for nationalization of PrivatBank partially owned by Dnepropetrovsk regions Governor Igor Kolomoisky has been introduced to the Ukrainian Supreme Rada. The bill was initiated by People’s Will MP, former member of the Regions Party Alexander Onishchenko. It was published on the parliament’s site on March 12.

PrivatBank says it is an “unrealistic provocation”. “It is a provocation and folly that does not relate to the economic reality and legislative process,” the bank management said in a statement.

Earlier, MP Onishchenko accused Kolomoisky of attempts to monopolize the business in Ukraine. According to the data of the National Bank of Ukraine, PrivatBank is the largest Ukrainian bank with the capital of 204.6 bn hryvnia. As of late 2014, it had 26% of all deposits held by Ukrainian individuals and 15% of the Ukrainian banking system assets. It was established on March 19, 1992 by the current owners, Gennady Bogolyubov and Igor Kolomoisky.

Igor Kolomoisky is one of the richest people in Ukraine. He was regarded to be the key sponsor of the Maidan protest activities. After the coup in February 2014, he was given the post of Dnepropetrovsk Region governor. The oligarch has been actively financing several battalions fighting in eastern Ukraine against the self-defense forces of Donbass.

Last summer, he proposed confiscating property from supporters of separatist ideas in Ukraine. Before that, Kolomoisky suggested that a 1920-km-long wall should be erected along the border with Russia.