The bank is suing Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov for allegedly defrauding it "on an epic scale" through sham loans and supply agreements between 2013 and 2014.
Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov both deny any wrongdoing and say there was no misappropriation from PrivatBank. They also argue that PrivatBank has no evidence they had any knowledge of, or involvement in, any misappropriation.
PrivatBank, which is seeking about $4.2 billion including interest, has pursued Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov in the English courts since 2017, the year after it was nationalised as part of a clean-up of Ukraine's finance system.
The trial of PrivatBank's case was due to start last year but was delayed because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov were unable to give evidence.
They have since decided not to give evidence, which PrivatBank says is because the pair has no answer to the fraud allegations.
PrivatBank's lawyer Andrew Hunter said Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov knew that, if they attended court, "they would have been revealed to be the people the bank say they really are, and that is fraudsters, money launderers and liars".
Kolomoisky's lawyer Mark Howard said in court filings that PrivatBank's case must fail because the loans at the centre of the lawsuit have almost entirely been repaid.
Bogolyubov's lawyer Clare Montgomery argued in court filings that "no funds were in fact misappropriated from the bank".
She said it was "implausible" that Bogolyubov knew about the alleged misappropriation when there was no direct evidence.
Hunter said Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov's case was that they were "the oligarch equivalent of absentee landlords", but he argued they had "absolute power at the bank" until it was nationalised in late 2016.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
By Sam Tobin
