The Deposit Guarantee Fund has proven in the U.S. Court of Appeals that over EUR 36.6 million and over $2 million, seized in the accounts of PJSC Prominvestbank, belong to Ukraine.
“The Deposit Guarantee Fund has achieved the lifting of the seizure of Prominvestbank’s funds in the U.S. in the amount of over $2 million and over EUR 36.6 million, and proved that these funds belong to the state of Ukraine,” the statement reads.
On March 5, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit of New York upheld the judgment of the District Court of New York of July 12, 2023, which ruled that these funds belonged to Ukraine.
The funds were discovered during the liquidation procedure of PJSC Prominvestbank in its correspondent account at the Bank of New York Mellon. In 2022, these funds were blocked by the American side due to the introduction of U.S. sanctions against the bank as a subsidiary of the Russian VEB.RF.
In November 2022, several U.S. citizens claimed these funds as victims of the actions of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan in 2016. However, at the time of their appeal to the District Court of New York, the bank had already belonged to the state of Ukraine based on Law of Ukraine “On the Basic Principles of the Forced Expropriation in Ukraine of Property of the Russian Federation and Its Residents”.
“Unblocking over $2 million and almost EUR 37 million of Prominvestbank is not just a legal success, but a contribution to the financial stability of the state. According to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, these funds belong to the state of Ukraine, which the Fund successfully proved in courts. Now the main obstacles have been removed, and we can expect these funds to be wired. After that, they will be forwarded to the state budget,” said Deputy Managing Director of the Fund Viktor Novikov. (Ukrinform)