Ihor Smilyansky, the General Director of Ukrposhta, has launched a legal battle against the National Bank of Ukraine. The head of the postal operator is officially appealing in court the regulator's decision to dismiss him due to alleged professional unsuitability, calling the NBU's actions a personal vendetta.
Ihor Smilyansky, the General Director of Ukrposhta, has launched a legal battle against the National Bank of Ukraine. The head of the postal operator is officially appealing in court the regulator's decision to dismiss him due to alleged professional unsuitability, calling the NBU's actions a personal vendetta.
The reason for the appeal to the Kyiv District Administrative Court was the decision of the NBU, by which the regulator recognized Smilyansky as professionally unfit. The head of Ukrposhta demands that this resolution be canceled, considering it completely illegal, biased and groundless. According to the head of the company, he filed the lawsuit personally and at his own expense, and waited 80 days to form a reinforced concrete position.
Smilyansky emphasized that the lawsuit is his own initiative and will not cost the company a single hryvnia.
"I filed the lawsuit personally. I also pay for my lawyers myself. Ukrposhta does not pay anything," the head of the postal operator emphasized .
In his address, Ihor Smilyansky draws parallels with cult cinema, comparing the situation surrounding the financial regulator with the plot of a crime drama:
"I'm a fan of the movie "The Godfather." Among many other plot lines, there is one simple truth: if you decide to attack, it's better not to miss. Because after an unsuccessful attempt, the plot, as a rule, is just beginning. And the one who unsuccessfully attacked becomes the target. Of course, we are not in New York in the 1950s or even in Sicily. And our methods are different - courts, lawyers, and documents."
According to Smilyansky, the real reason for the National Bank's actions lies not in professional criteria, but in the desire to block the emergence of a new player on the market and personal grievances of the regulator's leadership: "I consider the decision regarding me illegal and biased. There is such a phrase in the same "Godfather" - Nothing personal, just business. Nothing personal, just business. So here it is the opposite - no business, just personal revenge on me from the NBU leadership. Why? Well, for trying to make "Ukrposhta Bank" , which would be a competitor "to the banks close to the heart of the NBU head", and for the fact that I do not consider him the greatest banker of our time."
The plaintiff emphasized that if he wins the lawsuit, he will demand full reimbursement of his legal expenses from the defendant.
Recall that in June, the National Bank declared Ukrposhta CEO Smilyansky "professionally unfit." The suspension was supposed to take place within five working days, but this period expired.
After the NBU's decision, Smilyansky himself stated that he was ready to engage external lawyers to protect the interests of the company and himself as its head, and attributed this to personal antipathy on the part of the head of the National Bank, Andriy Pyshny.
