Founder of Inzhur Zhurzhiy failed to return 500 thousand dollars on time — the case reached court in Kyiv

The Supreme Court has finally upheld the decision to recover from the founder of investment company Inzhur, former Member of Parliament of Ukraine Andriy Zhurzhiy, more than 2,7 million hryvnias in interest under a loan agreement. Zhurzhiy’s company is known for large-scale deals in the real estate market — notably Inzhur will acquire a shopping mall for 36 million dollars — while the fund’s founder himself turned out to be a debtor in a private case that lasted more than two years.

According to the case materials published in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions, on 18 August 2022 the parties concluded a loan agreement. Under the terms of the document, Andriy Zhurzhiy received from the lender 20 million 375 thousand hryvnias, which at the time of signing equaled 500 000 US dollars at the exchange rate of JSC "Taskombank." The borrower was to return the funds by 28 February 2023.

The lender claimed that the funds were not returned within the term specified in the agreement. Initially he sent the borrower a demand dated 1 March 2023, and after a refusal — a formal claim dated 31 March 2023. In fact, the borrower repaid the loan amount only on 20 July 2023, but without paying any interest for use of the funds.

The plaintiff insisted that the agreement did not contain a provision making it interest-free, and therefore demanded that interest be calculated for the period from 19 August 2022 to 28 February 2023 at the National Bank of Ukraine rate of 25% per annum. The amount claimed was 2 707 363,01 hryvnias.

How the courts reviewed the case three times

The Solomyansky District Court of Kyiv on 28 November 2024 dismissed the claim, citing the provision of the Civil Code that exempts debtors from paying interest during the period of martial law. By the same decision, the court additionally awarded the defendant from the plaintiff 40 000 hryvnias for attorney’s fees.

However, the Kyiv Court of Appeal on 13 May 2025 overturned that decision and granted the claim in full. The appellate instance noted that the provision on exemption from liability for delay concerns penalties and fines, not interest for lawful use of a loan, which are governed by a separate article of the Civil Code. The court recovered from the debtor in favor of the lender 2 707 363,01 hryvnias in interest, as well as the court fee — in total 37 850 hryvnias.

The debtor’s representative — attorney Vitaliy Leonidovych Nakonechnyi — appealed the appellate court’s ruling to the cassation court, arguing that the loan was in fact provided in US dollars and therefore the rules on calculating interest in hryvnias could not be applied. The defense even asked to refer the case to the enlarged chamber of the Supreme Court for review of prior practice.

"The parties specified the currency of the obligation as hryvnias, not US dollars, therefore part one of Article 1048 of the Civil Code of Ukraine regarding the borrower’s payment of interest on the loan amount applies to the disputed legal relations," the Supreme Court’s ruling states.

The panel of judges of the Cassation Civil Court dismissed all defense arguments and refused to refer the case to the enlarged chamber. The Supreme Court found that the contract terms did not contain an explicit indication of its being interest-free, and therefore the lender was entitled to receive interest. The Kyiv Court of Appeal’s ruling was left unchanged and took effect immediately after issuance.

Why the debtor’s position did not work

The key argument was that, despite tying the amount to the dollar exchange rate, the contract explicitly stipulated issuance and repayment of funds in cash in hryvnias. This distinguished the case from precedents cited by the defendant, where the currency of the loan was indeed US dollars, not hryvnias with a dollar equivalent.

The court also recalled the presumption that a loan agreement is repayable: if the text does not explicitly state that the loan is interest-free, the creditor has the right to claim interest at the NBU’s discount rate. This rule applies regardless of whether the interest is detailed in the agreement itself.

Earlier, Informator wrote that 38 thousand Ukrainians bought a shopping center in Vinnytsia through the Inzhur REIT fund — the deal for 1,513 billion hryvnias became one of the largest in the real estate market since the full-scale invasion. We also wrote about the dispute around the Zhytniy Market building in Kyiv, where among potential buyers was Andriy Zhurzhiy’s investment fund, which showed interest in the privatization auction for the asset. However, Zhytniy Market in Kyiv has not been sold yet.