MOSCOW (AP) — A Ukrainian court has rejected an appeal of a lower court ruling that said the nationalization of the country's largest commercial bank had been illegal.

Ukraine's central bank requested the appeal refused Monday. The National Bank of Ukraine said it would ask a higher appeals court to review the April verdict on the government's takeover of Privatbank.

Privatbank was nationalized in 2016 after authorities discovered a capital shortfall of more than $6 billion. The bank was owned by tycoon Ihor Kolomoyskyi, an archrival of President Petro Poroshenko.

Kolomoyskyi is believed to have ties to President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the comedian who beat Poroshenko in an April 21 runoff.

After last month's court ruling, Poroshenko said returning the bank to Kolomoyskyi could plunge Ukraine into defaulting on debts and an economic crisis.