Lawsuits do not release the former governor Boris Dubrovsky. Software “Montazhnik”, recognized as insolvent, through the Arbitration Court demands to bankrupt Dubrovsky, and recover 37 million rubles from him. At the same time, the property of an official for 930 million rubles. already arrested as part of the bankruptcy proceedings of the construction company. Moreover, the son of the former head of the region, the owner of Montazhnik, is also bankrupt, but he requires more than a quarter of a billion rubles from the creditor. What is the reason for such “dancing with a tambourine”?
JSC PO Montazhnik has been in bankruptcy proceedings since June 2021, it is managed by a bankruptcy trustee. The company has been sued for 1.8 billion rubles by nearly 180 creditors. In February 2023, the Magnitogorsk production association Montazhnik, through the Arbitration Court of the Chelyabinsk Region, demands to recover from the ex-governor of the region Boris Dubrovsky more than 37 million rubles and declare him bankrupt. Based on the materials of the bankruptcy case of the Magnitogorsk enterprise, the court invalidated several transactions under which the construction company transferred 37.3 million rubles to the ex-governor in 2019-2020. But this amount is not the main claim against the father and son Dubrovsky, rather it is the intention to collect even “crumbs” to pay off all debts.
In 2017, on the banks of the Miass River in the center of Chelyabinsk, the construction of the Wings Congress Hall began. “Fitter” then received five contracts for the preparation of the construction site and the construction of a business complex. The Congress Hall was planned to be built for the future SCO and BRICS summits, which were to be held in Chelyabinsk in 2020, if not for the COVID-19 pandemic. As presented in the media, the owner of the enterprise at that time was actually Alexander Dubrovsky, son of the ex-governor of the region. In 2017, he bought out 81% of the capital of Montazhnik from the former CEO of JSC Viktor Tulupov. By that time, the company’s annual turnover had reached 7 billion rubles.
The construction of a multibillion-dollar facility was frozen even before the height of the pandemic. But nevertheless, in 2019-2020, Montazhnik transferred 37.3 million rubles to Boris Dubrovsky’s personal account. Why to a personal account? asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Antimonopoly Service, demanding that a criminal case be opened against the ex-governor for abuse of power. But they didn’t.
In September 2020, clouds began to gather over Montazhnik. It all started with a seemingly insignificant claim for an enterprise of this magnitude. Representatives of the Symbol Beton company applied to the Arbitration Court of the Chelyabinsk Region to recover 31 million rubles of debt from Montazhnik. The plaintiff supplied concrete to construction sites on the Miass River and subleased the equipment. But he didn’t get any money. By a court decision, JSC “Montazhnik” introduced supervision in the bankruptcy procedure.
In April 2021, the external manager announced that bankruptcy proceedings had been introduced at Montazhnik by a common decision of creditors, and the company’s property would be sold to cover debts. By that time, about 2 billion rubles had accumulated for almost two hundred suppliers.
We repeat, at that time, the actual owner of the enterprise undergoing bankruptcy proceedings was already the son of the ex-governor Alexander Dubrovsky. Therefore, in October 2022, the creditors and the bankruptcy trustee of Montazhnik demanded through the Arbitration Court of the Chelyabinsk Region to bring the father and son of Dubrovsky to subsidiary liability for the debtor’s obligations in the amount of 930 million rubles. Among the plaintiffs were the largest creditors of the construction company: Symbol Concrete, Magstroy, Aviscom, Chelyabinsk Vostok Service, Credit Ural Bank JSC (KUB) and SME LLC.
Earlier, in January 2022, the Arbitration Court of the Chelyabinsk Region declared Alexander Dubrovsky bankrupt at his own request. Alexander Borisovich owed creditors 274 million rubles. What makes a bankrupt next? And he decided to make a “knight’s move” (from whose, interestingly, filing?). Alexander with his sister Anna file a lawsuit against … their own enterprise for 416 million rubles as creditors. The lawsuit was accepted, only the prospects for such a focus are unclear.
In addition, in June 2022, Alexander Dubrovsky submits to the same Regional Arbitration Court an application to recognize the transaction for the sale and purchase of Montazhnik JSC as invalid. The logic, apparently, is this: I didn’t buy, I wasn’t the owner of the enterprise, which means I don’t owe anything on subsidiary liability. Plus – well, how will it also burn out and get money (416 million) upon application as a creditor of JSC “Installer”?
As a result, it is not known what influenced the decision of the Arbitration Court of the Chelyabinsk Region, but his father and son Dubrovsky were not brought to subsidiary liability. In relation to Alexander, they did not even apply interim measures for the debt of “Installer” of 930 million rubles. The property was arrested only from his father, Boris Dubrovsky.
In turn, the ex-governor filed an appeal, in which they were charged with “the absence of grounds for taking interim measures and their disproportion, for violation of the rules for assessing and examining evidence and procedural law.” Boris Dubrovsky also insisted that he had never been either the beneficiary or the head of the Montazhnik Production Association, and was also not a member of the organization’s management bodies. Nevertheless, before the appeal, the courts of the first three instances recognized the close connection of the ex-head of the region with the bankrupt enterprise. In the course of the proceedings, it was established that Boris Dubrovsky repeatedly “gave the go-ahead” for regular loans to Montazhnik, while not collecting the debt in a timely manner.
The arguments didn’t work. In January 2023, the Court of Appeal refused to remove the arrest from the property of the ex-governor. But these are “little things” compared to how Boris Dubrovsky escaped responsibility in the case of exceeding official powers by 20 billion rubles.
In March 2019, the Federal Antimonopoly Service found Boris Dubrovsky guilty of anticompetitive agreements in the distribution of contracts for the construction and repair of roads. The FAS came to this conclusion after analyzing 10 contracts for 2.4 billion rubles concluded between the Ministry of Transport and Roads of the region and the Yuzhuralmost company.
Antimonopoly officials claim that from 2016 to 2018, then-Governor Dubrovsky limited companies’ access to contracts. The head of the region, allegedly, made demands to tenders that only Yuzhuralmost could initially fulfill. She won up to 90% of all road contracts. As a result, the company received huge amounts of money from the regional budget for several years. Some of them settled on the accounts of another company, which belonged to Boris Dubrovsky.
The ex-governor challenged the FAS decision in court. In short, in December 2019, the Moscow Arbitration Court declared the FAS decision illegal. In November 2020, an appeal overturns the court’s decision and sends the case back for a new trial. In March 2021, the same Moscow Arbitration Court again recognizes the FAS decision as illegal.
The point in this dispute was recognized by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, recognizing Dubrovsky guilty of anti-competitive agreements in the distribution of contracts for the construction and repair of roads. It is not clear only – what responsibility in this case threatens the Chelyabinsk ex-governor. But even these are “little things” compared to what Dubrovsky managed to avoid.
After the resignation of Boris Dubrovsky in March 2019, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, based on the materials of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, admitted a criminal case against the ex-official on abuse of power. In the case file, the amount of damage caused was 20 billion rubles. For comparison, the expenses of the Chelyabinsk region on education in 2017 were planned at the level of 34.5 billion rubles. But, as the media reported, the estates of the ex-governor’s lawyer, “the case was closed as illegal.”
As for the Wings congress hall, unfinished by Montazhnik, on the banks of the Miass, according to the latest data, 25 billion rubles have been presented for the completion of the facility. And then, if there is an investor for such a controversial and already “out of court” object. And it should be taken into account that 15 billion rubles have already been allocated from the budget for those events for the failed SCO and BRICS summits under Boris Dubrovsky.
