Source The court banned any actions with apartments belonging to the Chelyabinsk region. The Arbitration Court of the Chelyabinsk Region arrested more than 130 apartments, which are owned by the region. The decision was taken as interim measures in the framework of the bankruptcy case of the Investment Promotion Agency (IPA) subordinate to the Ministry of Economic Development of the region. The bankruptcy trustee is trying to challenge the agreements on the gratuitous transfer of these apartments by the administrators of the governor and the government, concluded in 2017. The agency received real estate from the South Ural Corporation as payment for the redemption of securities, but the tax authorities subsequently identified violations in these transactions and charged additional payments that led to the bankruptcy of the AIR.
The Arbitration Court of the Chelyabinsk Region seized 131 apartments owned by the region. Such interim measures were taken in the framework of the bankruptcy case of ANO Investment Promotion Agency (AID) subordinate to the Ministry of Economic Development of the region at the request of the bankruptcy trustee. The decision was published in the file of arbitration cases.
On November 23, the court accepted for consideration three applications by the bankruptcy commissioner Alexei Pivovarov challenging the debtor's transactions.
In one of them, he asks to invalidate the contracts for the gratuitous transfer (donation) of apartments, concluded by the Investment Development Agency with the Ministry of Property and Natural Resources of the Chelyabinsk Region on March 3 and August 29, 2017, and to apply the consequences of the invalidity of transactions in the form of the return of real estate to the bankruptcy estate of the debtor. “If it is impossible to return the received property in kind, reimburse its value in monetary terms and collect from the public legal entity of the Chelyabinsk region represented by the government at the expense of the treasury of the Chelyabinsk region and the Ministry of property of the region to the bankruptcy estate of ANO “Investment Development Agency of the Chelyabinsk Region” funds in in the amount of 393.69 million rubles,” the statement says.
The applicant substantiated the need to arrest the apartments, owned by the Administration of the Governor and the Government of the Region, by the fact that in case of failure to take measures, the defendants in the transactions could withdraw the assets, which would lead to significant damage or make it extremely difficult to enforce the judicial act following the consideration of the application for recognition of the contracts as invalid.
The Ministry of Property of the Chelyabinsk region reported that the process of transferring apartments took place within the framework of the law. “The apartments were accepted into the state ownership of the Chelyabinsk region under gratuitous transfer (donation) agreements within the framework of the current legislation. The court will give a proper legal assessment on this issue,” the response to Kommersant’s request says.
Most of the arrested apartments – 110 – are located in the Bely Khutor microdistrict of the Zapadny settlement of the Sosnovsky district. >AIR received this property from South Ural Corporation for Housing Construction and Mortgage JSC (Southern Urals Housing and Mortgage Corporation, founded by the Ministry of Property of the Chelyabinsk Region) as payment for the redemption of securities. In 2016, AIR received a subsidy in the amount of 1.5 billion rubles from the founder. for the purchase of mortgage certificates from YuU KZHSI for 1.09 billion rubles. The agency also purchased from the corporation mortgages and assignments of the right to claim on loans in the amount of 400.4 million rubles, which the corporation undertook to buy back.
Subsequently, YuU KZhSI redeemed the certificates, paying for them partly with money, partly with apartments and residential buildings. Then this property was donated by the AIR to the manager of the governor and the government of the region. Later, the IFTS for the Central District of Chelyabinsk revealed violations in these transactions. In particular, according to the tax authority, the IDA unreasonably included the value of donated real estate in non-operating expenses, thereby underestimating the taxable base. It was this debt that later became the reason for the bankruptcy of the AIR.
ANO “Investment Promotion Agency” was established in 2013 to attract investment to the region and support large investment projects. The organization itself filed for bankruptcy in January of this year. At the end of September, the court declared the AIR bankrupt and introduced bankruptcy proceedings against it. The register of creditors includes only the claims of the Federal Tax Service for the Chelyabinsk region in the amount of 411.6 million rubles. No other filings have yet been made in the bankruptcy case.
In addition to donation transactions of apartments, the bankruptcy trustee seeks to invalidate two donation agreements for the Chelyabinsk region of the agency's funds – more than 1 billion rubles, concluded in 2017–2018 with the Ministry of Finance of the region, as well as agreements on the return of 13.4 million rubles. in 2019–2022, the Ministry of Economic Development of the region. Statements challenging these transactions were also accepted by the court on November 23.
Anton Krasnikov, a partner at the Sotheby law firm, notes that the adoption of interim measures will not have any consequences for state employees living in apartments.
“These measures are aimed at preventing the infliction of material damage to interested parties and the preservation of apartments for the defendant. Restriction of the rights to alienate property will be valid until the resolution of the dispute on the merits. In addition, the court may draw attention to the disproportion of the legal consequences of the invalidity of transactions declared by the bankruptcy trustee to the amount of harm caused to the Russian Federation in the person of the tax authority when committing a tax offense. Thus, eviction threatens residents only if the court forecloses on apartments and the judicial act enters into force,” the lawyer notes.
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