The Pechersky district court of Kiev on July 13 decided to recover from the former owner of Commercial Bank Financial Initiative PJSC, Oleh Bakhmatyuk, as guarantor, more than UAH 1.8 billion in favor of the National Bank of Ukraine on one of the refinancing loans provided earlier and not returned.
“Unfortunately, it is too early to put a dot in this case, but the court’s adoption of this decision is a defining event for the restoration of the violated rights of the National Bank. We are convinced that in case of its appeal, it has every reason to remain in force,” the NBU quoted in a press release on Monday the comment of the director of the legal department, Oleksandr Zima.
The National Bank recalled that in 2014 it concluded an agreement with Financial Initiative on a refinancing loan to maintain liquidity in the amount of UAH 2 billion, and Bakhmatyuk vouched for the proper fulfillment of the bank’s obligations to repay the loan funds. Since both the bank and its owner failed to fulfill their obligations, in 2017 the National Bank filed a lawsuit with the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv to recover the debt from him. During the consideration of the case in court at the expense of the pledged property provided by the property guarantors to ensure the fulfillment of the obligations of the bank there was a repayment of the loan debt in the amount of about UAH 200 million.
Now six more cases remain under consideration by the Pechersky district court of Kiev on claims of the NBU against Bakhmatyuk as a guarantor for the debts of PJSC “VEB Bank” and the bank “Financial Initiative” on other refinancing loans, and the total amount of debt Bakhmatyuk as a guarantor to the National Bank is almost UAH 8 billion, the NBU said.
It specified that it classified VIB Bank as insolvent on November 20, 2014, and Financial Initiative Bank – on June 23, 2015.
Bakhmatyuk rejects the accusations of the National Bank and puts forward counter accusations. In particular, in 2020, he obtained a decision of the Supreme Court to recognize the National Bank’s actions to withdraw Financial Initiative Bank from the market as unlawful. The businessman, who has been living in Vienna for the last few years, has also repeatedly declared his readiness to compromise with the National Bank on the issue of sureties, offering to conclude an amicable agreement with a seven-year installment period with the possibility of increasing the bail to the NBU, but to no avail.
Ukraine has created a legislative basis for priority cross-border passage of goods placed under the joint transit procedure, and also made it possible to carry out internal transit of goods using the NCTS, similar to the Union transit provided for by the EU Customs Code.
So the Ministry of Finance on its website commented on the main innovations of the law “On Amendments to the Customs Code of Ukraine on the use of customs declarations and electronic transit system provided by the Convention on the procedure of joint transit (NCTS – IF) for transit under the terms of this Code” (No. 9014-1) adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on July 13.
“The adopted amendments to the Customs Code create favorable conditions for Ukrainian businesses to open T1 declarations in internal customs, which, combined with the electronic queue at the border, will unload customs checkpoints and reduce the time of customs clearance for NCTS users,” the Ministry of Finance pointed out.
The ministry added that the law also provides for the introduction of additional transit simplifications, in particular, the status of authorized TIR consignor and authorized TIR consignee and the registration of a single transit declaration for goods that are or will be moved in one vehicle (container or package) from one customs office of departure to one customs office of destination.
Other simplifications include bringing in line with the EU customs legislation and the provisions of the Convention on the Joint Transit Procedure the requirements to seal all transit movements or, if sealing is impossible, to ensure identification of the relevant goods
The draft law was developed in fulfillment of Ukraine’s European integration commitments in the customs sphere, the Finance Ministry said.
Earlier, roundtables were devoted to customs reform, where the event’s organizer and moderator Maksym Urakin stated that the State Customs Service accounts for 35-40% of state budget revenues, and these figures have remained stable in recent years. That is why customs reforms are so important for the country.
The State Property Fund of Ukraine has received the right to form separate pools of state assets for further privatization, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a corresponding resolution on Friday.
“The main purpose of introducing the new mechanism is to increase the interest of business to invest in state assets. Pools attract more attention of investors who are interested in the implementation of large projects and can make large-scale investments,” the FGI said in a press release.
The Fund added that the pools of privatization objects will be formed from enterprises operating in one sector of the economy, the products of one of them may be raw materials for another.
“Thus, pools are an opportunity to privatize vertically integrated businesses instead of buying disparate objects,” the privatization agency explained.
It specified that the new mechanism can be used in both small and large privatization.
Currently, the Federal State Property Management Service puts state assets for sale by individual companies.
The Screen Actors, Television and Radio Artists Union (SAG-AFTRA) went on strike Friday, following screenwriters after negotiations for a new contract with studios and streaming services collapsed.
Hollywood’s two major unions are striking at the same time for the first time since 1960, when Ronald Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild, MarketWatch notes.
SAG-AFTRA, whose members include 160,000 movie actors, journalists, announcers, presenters and stuntmen, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents employers including Disney, Netflix and Amazon, failed to reach an agreement after the previous three-year contract expired.
During negotiations, the Screen Actors Guild demanded a number of issues be addressed, including low wages, the need to shoot video auditions at their own expense and the unregulated use of artificial intelligence.
The AMPTP said it offered the Guild a favorable agreement that included the largest minimum wage increase in 35 years, an increase in pension and health contribution limits, and an “innovative solution” to artificial intelligence that would protect actors’ rights to use their digital image.
“Unfortunately, the union has chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for thousands upon thousands of people involved in the film industry,” the alliance said in a statement.
According to the rules of SAG-AFTRA, during the strike actors can not participate in film production, including shooting, auditions, rehearsals and voice-overs, as well as attend premieres and in any way promote projects with their participation. The current bans call into question the actors’ appearance at the 75th ceremony of the prestigious Emmy Awards, which will be held in September.
Earlier, the writers’ strike halted work on the show “Saturday Night Live” as well as several TV series, including “Very Strange Things,” “Sly and Family Guy.” The number of paused TV shows and movie projects is expected to increase following the breakdown in negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP.
The negative balance of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-May 2023 increased nine times compared to the same period of 2022 – to $8.975 billion from $1.004 billion, the State Statistics Service (Gosstat) said on Friday. According to its data, exports of goods from Ukraine for the period compared to January-May 2022 decreased by 15.6% to $16.448 billion, while imports increased by 24.1% to $25.423 billion.
The State Statistics Committee specified that in May-2023 compared to April-2023, seasonally adjusted exports decreased by 0.8% to $3.221 billion, while imports increased by 2.8% to $5.488 billion.
The seasonally adjusted foreign trade balance in May-2023 was negative at $2.267 billion, while it was also negative at $2.093 billion in the previous month.
The export-import coverage ratio in January-May 2023 amounted to 0.65 (0.95 in January-May 2022).
The State Statistics Service specified that foreign trade operations were conducted with partners from 223 countries.
Dobrobut medical network and Superhumans center for prosthetics and reconstructive surgery signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation, under which patients who applied for prosthetics in Superhumans and need additional treatment before prosthetics, will receive medical care in the treatment and diagnostic center “Dobrobut”.
Superhumans patients can also receive physical rehabilitation at Dobrobut’s rehabilitation department, according to a press release from the nurse network.
Patients will receive treatment at no cost, thanks to the support of the Direct Relief and Dobrobut Foundation charities.
Dobrobut emphasized that during the full-scale war, the number of amputations in Ukraine tripled on average compared to previous years.
“Today there are more than 300 patients waiting for prosthetics at Superhumans Center. Of these, about 20% need additional treatment and surgeries for stump formation and preparation for prosthetics. That is why close cooperation and exchange of experience between Superhumans, which helps Ukrainians with amputations to get quality prostheses, and the medical network “Dobrobut”, which provides high-quality modern medical care, is so important today”, – emphasized in “Dobrobut”.
“Dobrobut is one of the largest private medical networks in Ukraine. The network includes 17 medical centers in Kyiv and Kyiv region, emergency service, dentistry and pharmacies. Medical centers of the network provide services for children and adults in more than 75 medical fields. Dobrobut specialists perform more than 7,000 surgeries annually. The network employs 2,700 employees.
Since the first days of the war, Dobrobut’s medical and diagnostic center in Kiev has been providing free 24/7 urgent medical care to Ukraine’s defenders and the population. Thanks to the activities of the Direct Relief International and Dobrobut Foundation charitable foundations, the Dobrobut Treatment and Diagnostic Center can provide free medical care to wounded military personnel and people stranded by war. “Dobrobut was the first private network in Ukraine to receive funding from the U.S. federal government. With the support of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Dobrobut will build a state-of-the-art physical rehabilitation center.
Superhumans Center is an all-Ukrainian modern center for prosthetics, reconstructive surgery, rehabilitation and psychological support of war-affected adults and children. All services of the center are free of charge.
The mission of Superhumans is to build high-quality expertise in prosthetics and high-tech medical interventions in Ukraine, to bring the best medical practices to Ukraine.
The first Superhumans Center started operating in Lviv in April 2023, and since then about 40 patients have been prosthetized. The center has its own prosthesis production facility equipped with Ottobock, a rehabilitation department, a swimming pool, a hydrotherapy department, and a psychological support department. A reconstructive surgery department will also be operational in the near future. There are also plans to open Superhumans clinics in other Ukrainian cities.
