Deposit Guarantee Fund: Bakhmatyuk offered to pay the debt of VAB bank, but NABU case prevented it
Answering the question of Mind how the Fund evaluates Oleg Bakhmatyuk's earlier proposals for voluntary debt settlement, Svetlana Recruit replied: "The topic of Bakhmatyuk is very actual nowadays. We received proposals from him conserning debt restructuring - both to the Fund and the National Bank. The first is two years ago. Without specific figures, just a declaration of intent. We, in turn, decided to start exploring legal options, but than everything stopped". Recruit, however, states that the topic of contractual debt settlement is now "becoming a key, if not the only, source of funds for paying creditors to the Guarantee Fund".
The Managing Director of the Guarantee Fund stated that voluntary settlement is the most advantageous for the state method to settle bank debts: "If we talk about the experience of collecting funds through civil or criminal processes, on average 25-30 cents of expenses are spent on each dollar received. Generally, it is a rather expensive and long process all over the world, which does not bring us the quick result. And voluntary settlement is always a discount. The peace process is faster and less expansive than litigation, but it is a discount to the amount of debt. "
Returning to a specific case of Bakhmatiuk, Svetlana Recruit said that there were several proposals from businessman. In the latter, "he offered UAH 8 billion in total for the fund and the NBU, of which UAH 500 million is deposited into an escrow account or a deposit to confirm the seriousness of his intentions, and he pays the entire amount within five to seven years".
After the first proposal, the Executive Directorate of the Fund decided to consider the possibility of voluntary settlement. Decision was made to study the legal mechanisms, to develop the legal structure, to carry out consultations, calculations, etc. "There were no decisions concerning the second proposal. We did not reject it, but we did not agree for it because of one simple reason: to accept or reject this kind of proposal a real analysis in two directions is necessary".
However, after NABU's legal action began, the situation with Bakhmatyuk's voluntary repayment of the bank's debt was frozen. "It is not clear now how to follow the voluntary settlement scenario. There are certain procedural restrictions as there is already a suspicion. So far, in Ukraine, as it seems to me, there is no such practice, and it should be created in this case. "
But the Guarantee Fund is ready to implement the idea of contractual debt settlement of VAB Bank: "The Fund is ready for such steps. In addition, the possibility of such agreements is described in a bill that I hope will be approved by Parliament in the nearest months. The necessity for such legislative option is endorsed by the IMF and the WB. I will add that the best international practice on voluntary settlement is in the USA. And now we have a team of advisers from the FDIC (United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), who are specialists in voluntary settlements and have implemented dozens of such cases at home. They help us prepare for the best practices. "
It should be reminded that NABU has opened a case about allegedly inappropriate use of stabilization loan granted to Oleg Bakhmatyuk National Bank of VAB. The National Bank has already denied the allegations, proving that the total refinancing amount, UAH 1.2 billion, went to the payment of 80 thousand depositors, as was intended by this program.
