As it became known to Kommersant, the Moscow City Court (MGS) dismissed a civil lawsuit against the well-known auditor Elena Loss, who, we recall, is accused of trying to steal the Pharmservice company and fraud with the purchase of equipment totaling about 320 million rubles. and is on the international wanted list. The plaintiff demanded that she be reinstated at work at Pharmservice and that she be paid lost earnings, which amounted to 1 million rubles. per month for four hours of work per day. However, the Board of Appeal of the City Court considered that when the plaintiff was fired, the employer complied with all the requirements of the Labor Code, and Ms. Loss did not act in the interests of the company in which she worked. Taking into account the materials of the criminal case, the city court assessed the actions of Elena Loss as an abuse of the right and canceled the decision of the Nikulinsky district court, which had previously partially satisfied the claims of the auditor.
The Pharmservice company filed an appeal with the Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases of the Moscow City Court.
Its representatives challenged the decision of the Nikulinsky District Court of the capital, which partially satisfied the demands of Elena Loss, recognizing her dismissal as illegal and ordering her to be reinstated.
The court also considered it necessary to recover almost 8 million rubles from the company in favor of the auditor. in order to compensate for unpaid wages, based on the average earnings of the plaintiff, during her forced absence from the end of 2021. In addition, the district court decided that the defendant should compensate the well-known auditor for the moral damage caused to him. It is worth noting that the pecuniary claims satisfied by the Nikulinsky court are approximately 70% of what the plaintiff demanded: one unpaid salary demanded by Elena Loss amounted to almost 8.9 million rubles.
Recall that the well-known auditor Elena Loss, who owned the audit firm RSM-Rus and the International Center for Excellence in Internal Control and Risk Management, is currently a defendant in a criminal case that was initiated by the Moscow department of the TFR in July 2021. According to the plot of the case, while holding the post of adviser to Pharmservice LLC, the auditor entered into a criminal conspiracy with the company’s general director Konstantin Belyaev and Leah Muradova, who headed ProBioFarm LLC. Elena Loss, according to the materials of the investigation, being the “actual head” of these companies, together with her accomplices, not only stole borrowed budget funds in the amount of 5.5 million rubles. when supplying equipment, but also tried to seize the rights to 100% of the shares of Pharmservice LLC. The actions of the defendants were qualified by the investigation as fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and attempted fraud on an especially large scale (article 30 and part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The amount of damage in the criminal case, according to investigators, is almost 320 million rubles.
The materials of the case against Konstantin Belyaev, separated into a separate proceeding, are already being considered by the court, and Elena Loss, whom the investigation considers the organizer of the crimes, and Liya Muradova were arrested in absentia and put on the international wanted list through Interpol. Some time ago, Mrs. Muradova was detained in Italy, but the issue of her extradition there has not yet been resolved. In the same country, according to Kommersant’s sources, Mrs. Loss also lives.
Speaking at the IGU when considering the complaint of the Pharmservice company, the plaintiff’s representative demanded that the decision of the court of first instance be left in force, in turn, the defendant’s representative and the prosecutor insisted on its cancellation.
As a result, the Board of the City Court agreed with the arguments of the latter. In particular, in its decision, the IGU noted that the labor contract between Ms. Loss and Pharmservice LLC was concluded on February 1, 2021. According to its terms, the plaintiff was hired as an adviser to the general director of the company in combination, for a period of five years. At the same time, the official salary of the part-time worker, according to the contract, was 300 thousand rubles, in addition, it was provided for the payment of a monthly bonus to the adviser in the amount of 700 thousand rubles. And in accordance with Addendum No. 1 to the employment contract, from April 1, 2021, Ms. Loss was set a new official salary, which repeated the previous amount of payments – 1 million rubles. per month. The document also established the remote nature of the work of Ms. Loss with a working day of four hours. The schedule for the performance of labor duties was left to her discretion.
The City Court also noted that by order dated May 26, 2021, in connection with the beginning of the liquidation of the activities of Pharmservice, the remote work regime was canceled in the company, and employees were ordered to come to the office. A copy of the order was also sent to Elena Loss by e-mail, but she replied that she would only consider “the possibility of changing the terms of the employment contract”, and until she makes a decision, she will continue to work remotely. By order of July 31, 2021, the court noted, Elena Loss was fired for the first time – due to absenteeism from the employer without a good reason. But on November 15 of the same year, adviser Loss was again allowed to perform her duties, of which she was notified by telegram. However, Ms. Loss did not appear in the office again, after which the company drew up acts on “the absence of remote interaction with an employee.” Also, the plaintiff, the court noted, ignored the directions for a mandatory medical examination and requests to provide the LLC with its current address, mail and phone number. On November 25, 2021, the plaintiff was again removed from office, she was reprimanded “for improper performance of official duties.” These orders, the MGS emphasized, were not challenged, and after a series of absenteeism on December 6, 2021, the employment contract with Ms. Los was terminated, and she was fired. The validity of the actions of the defendant, the court noted, is also confirmed by the data of the timesheets in the LLC. The IGU emphasized that Konstantin Belyaev, who signed the employment contract with Ms. Loss on behalf of Pharmservice, is a defendant in a fraud case.
As a result, the IGU came to the conclusion that the plaintiff did not fulfill his labor obligations in good faith and, abusing the right, acted not in the interests of the employer.
At the same time, the company, on the contrary, complied with the requirements of the Labor Code, even paying part of the salary when the adviser was dismissed. Based on these arguments, the Moscow City Court canceled the decision of the Nikulinsky District Court, and refused to satisfy the claims of Elena Loss. It was not possible to get comments from representatives of the auditor “Kommersant”.
