EQUITY defended the Bank “Finance and Credit” in a dispute with Ukraine International Airlines

On August 4, 2015 EQUITY lawyers successfully defended the interests of JSC Bank “Finance and Credit “in a dispute with PJSC  “International Airlines of Ukraine” in the Higher Economic Court of Ukraine regarding cancellation of the arrest of the bank´s funds and return of the case for a new trial.

Back in January 2015 UIA appealed to the court for termination of the agreement on cash settlement servicing in the Bank “Finance and Credit” and recovery of the fund balance in the appropriate accounts totaling to more than 180 mln UAH, based on the alleged unreasonable failure of payment orders from UIA and, consequently, breach of contract by the bank. The courts of first and appeal instances satisfied the claim of UIA and seized the funds of the bank in more than 65 accounts (including the NBU).

However, due to incomplete court research of the case and the materials provided by the parties HECU returned the case for reconsideration. Upon the latest court session Higher Economic Court of Ukraine partially upheld the appeal claims of the bank, whereby it unblocked its accounts and did not allow unjustified recovery of the funds from the bank, which is having its difficult times.

The strategy to protect the interests of the bank in court was elaborated by EQUITY team supervised by partner Andriy Nikitin.