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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The Supreme Court has definitively confirmed the ruling for the collection from the founder of the investment company Inzhur, former member of parliament Andriy Zhuryizhia, of more than 2,7 million hryvnias in interest under a loan agreement.
Zhuryizhia’s company is known for large real estate deals — in particular, 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 case materials, 18 August 2022 of the year, the parties concluded a loan agreement. Under its terms Andriy Zhuryizhia received from Valeriy Georgiyovych Kulyk 20,37 million hryvnias, which at the time of signing equaled 500 thousand dollars. The debtor was to repay the funds by 28 February 2023 year.
The lender claimed that the funds had not been returned within the period specified by the agreement. First he sent the debtor a demand on 1 March 2023 year, and after a refusal — a claim on 31 March. In fact, the debtor returned the loan amount only in 20 July 2023 year, but without paying any interest for using the funds.
The plaintiff insisted that the agreement did not contain a provision about the loan being interest-free, and therefore demanded interest for the period from 19 August 2022 year to 28 February 2023 year at the NBU key rate of 25% per year. The amount of the claim was 2,7 million hryvnias.
How the courts reviewed the case three times
The Solomianskyi district court on 28 November 2024 year denied the claim, citing a Civil Code provision that frees debtors from paying interest during a state of war. By that decision the court additionally awarded the defendant 40 thousand hryvnias in court costs for legal representation to the plaintiff.
However, the Kyiv Court of Appeal on 13 May 2025 year overturned this decision and fully granted the claim. The appellate court noted that the provision on exemption from liability for penalties concerns penalties and fines, not interest for legitimate use of the loan, which is regulated by a separate article of the Civil Code. The court ordered the debtor to pay to the lender 2,7 million hryvnias in interest.
The debtor’s representative appealed the appellate court’s decision in cassation, arguing that the loan was actually extended in dollars, and therefore the rules on calculating interest in hryvnias could not be applied. The defense even asked to transfer the case for review to the united chamber of the Supreme Court to reconsider prior practice.
The Panel of Judges of the Cassation Civil Court rejected all defense arguments and refused to transfer the case for consideration to the united chamber. The Supreme Court found that the contract terms did not contain a direct indication of its gratuitous nature, and therefore the lender was entitled to receive interest.
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 defined the issuance and repayment of funds in hryvnias in cash. This distinguished the case from precedents cited by the debtor’s defense, where the funding currency was indeed dollars, not hryvnia with a dollar equivalent.
The court also reminded of the presumption of repayability of a loan contract: if the text does not explicitly state that the loan is interest-free, the creditor has the right to demand interest at the NBU policy rate. This rule applies regardless of whether the interest is detailed in the contract itself.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "У засновника Inzhur Журжія остаточно не вийшло оскаржити справу про позику на 500 тисяч доларів, за якою він не сплачував відсотки". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Rozsliduvach.
