MOSCOW, November 19 (RAPSI) – The Central district court of Simferopol has ruled that PrivatBank, owned by Ukrainian billionaire Igor Kolomoisky, owes its Crimean clients 10.9 billion rubles ($232 million), Izvestia newspaper reoprts on Wednesday, citing press service of the court.

“The civil codes of both Ukraine and Russia say that citizens who sign bank deposit contracts have the right to get their money back plus interest as stipulated in the contract,” the newspaper writes. However, PrivatBank “has illegally refused to return the deposits and has therefore neglected its obligations under the contracts signed.”

The Depositor Protection Fund, which was established in April 2014, has received over 100,000 complaints involving as much as 10.9 billion rubles ($232 million).

According to Izvestia, now that PrivatBank’s actions have been declared illegal by the court, the Depositor Protection Fund plans to file a suit to collect the debts from the bank.  In all, the fund has filed suits against 37 banks, demanding that the court block their legal right to dispose of their property in the Crimean Federal District. The court has already ruled to seize the assets of 17 lending organizations, including PrivatBank.

In September, authorities in Crimea, which opted to break away from Ukraine and move toward Russia in a referendum in March this year, decided to nationalize Kolomoisky’s property in the republic. Three luxury tourist resorts and one hotel were included.

Also in September, the Ukrainian oligarch’s property was seized in Moscow on a request from Russia’s Investigative Committee.

Russian investigative authorities opened a criminal case against Kolomoisky and Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov in June, charging them with masterminding murder, the use of prohibited methods and means of warfare, abduction, and other crimes linked to the armed conflict in the southeastern regions of Ukraine.

Moreover, Kolomoisky is allegedly financing the ultra-nationalist Right Sector and several armed groups that are taking part in military operations in Donbas.

Kiev launched a military operation in mid-April to suppress the anti-Maidan movement in eastern Ukraine, which did not recognize the legitimacy of the February coup in Kiev.