Oshchadbank and Creative: AP VAKS resumed criminal proceedings
On November 24, 2022, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court of Appeal (AP VAKS) satisfied the appeal of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) and canceled the decision of the High Anti-Corruption Court (VAKS) dated 08.22.2026 on report 002, the period of pre-trial investigation expired), writes Finbalance.
AP VAKS did not agree with the conclusions of VAKS and sent the materials of this criminal proceeding to VAKS for conducting court proceedings at the stage of preparatory court proceedings.
According to court materials, the subject of pre-trial investigation in this criminal proceeding is the possible illegal actions of Oschadbank officials when lending to the group of companies “Creativ”, which ultimately led to the emergence of receivables to the state bank in the amount of about UAH 6.7 billion and failure to respond to this with claims – litigation by Sberbank employees
As noted, during the pre-trial investigation of this episode, signs of the possible commission of other criminal offenses (part 3 of article .209, part 5 of article 191, part 1 of article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
As NABU and SAPO reported, on September 2, 2021, an indictment against 12 people was sent to the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court in the case of misappropriation of $20 million from Oschadbank.
Among the defendants are the ex-director of the corporate business department of Oschadbank; former head of the bank's project finance department; ex-head of the project finance department of Sberbank; former beneficiaries of the group of companies “Creativ”; a number of ex-officials and officials of enterprises that were part of this group of companies, as well as an appraiser.
According to the investigation, in the period 2013-2015, officials of private enterprises that were part of the Creative group, in in collusion with officials of Oschadbank JSC, having forged documents, illegally received a loan in the state bank in the amount of 20 million dollars. USA (UAH 160 million equivalent at the time of the crime) allegedly for the purchase of sunflower seeds.
After receiving the funds, the then owners of the Creative group withdrew them abroad to the accounts of companies controlled by them, registered in Belize and Switzerland. And then the same money was used to pay for the purchase of corporate rights of legal entities that owned valuable real estate.
09/27/2019 NABU and SAP reported suspicion to ex-MP Stanislav Berezkin, who was also the beneficial owner of the companies of the Creative group and, according to the investigation, the organizer of a corruption scheme to seize funds from Oschadbank. The production of the People's Deputy is closed due to his death.
As part of this case, in October 2018, law enforcement officers took into custody the deputy head of Sberbank, Irina Zemtsova (she was fired from her post in February-March 2021).
In March 2016, the then head of the board of Sberbank (now the head of the NBU) Andrey Pyshny stated that the total debt of “Creative” to Sberbank exceeds 300 million dollars. The banker did not rule out that “there will be a part of the debt that is not covered by collateral” (quote).
In November 2020, Ukreximbank announced that the Creative group owed UAH 4.6 billion to it.
In 2016, Risbek Toktomushev, a native of BTA Bank, and Artur Grants (who was also associated with Andrei Ivanchuk and Leonid Yurushev) announced the purchase of the Creative agricultural holding from the Berezkin family.
PJSC “Kreativ” was declared bankrupt by the decision of the Economic Court of Kyiv dated 04/16/2018 (left unchanged by the decision of the Kyiv Economic Court of Appeal of Kyiv dated 06/19/2018 and the decision of the Supreme Court dated 10/09/2018). The court stated that the debtor's liabilities (UAH 19.4 billion) significantly exceed the assets (UAH 33.4 million), and “the debtor's property is not enough to pay off all accounts payable.”
14.06.2017 Economic Court Kyiv approved the register of creditors’ claims, and on March 11, 2019, supplemented it (among the creditors of PJSC “Kreativ” there are many Western banks).
01/18/2021 The Economic Court of Kyiv, within the framework of case No. 910/9131/16 on the bankruptcy of PJSC “Creativ”, made changes to the register of creditors' claims in terms of Oschadbank's claims, approving them in a new amount – UAH 2.96 billion (fourth stage); UAH 683.6 million (sixth stage); UAH 6.62 billion (secured by a pledge of the debtor's property).
According to court materials, during the liquidation of PJSC “Creativ”, part of its debt to Oschadbank (for UAH 733 million) was repaid at the expense of the pledged property of third parties, which led to a decrease in the requirements of the state bank to PJSC “Creativ” in the fourth stage from UAH 3.7 billion to UAH 2.96 billion (it should be understood that this happened, among other things, as a result of the aforementioned sale of the Ellada PE plant).</p
As Finbalance wrote, on March 17, 2021, the Economic Court of Kyiv approved the liquidation balance sheet of Creative Group PJSC and decided to liquidate this company as a legal entity due to bankruptcy (case No. 910/4139/18).
PJSC « Creative Group” was declared bankrupt by the decision of this court dated May 30, 2018.
In July-September 2018, the court recognized PJSC “Creative Group” as creditors, incl. the following structures:
— Sberbank — UAH 6.3 billion (as secured by a pledge of the debtor’s property);
— UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, a.s. — by UAH 261.6 million (of which UAH 255 million are fourth stage claims);
— UniCredit Bank AG (Germany) — UAH 223.4 million (of which UAH 223.4 million are fourth stage);
— Raiffeisenbank a.s. — UAH 40 million (of which UAH 33.9 million is the fourth stage);
— Agrarian Investments 2012 LLC — UAH 116.4 million (fourth stage), etc.
According to court materials, the total accounts payable of Creative Group PJSC is UAH 6.96 billion.
As noted, funds in the amount of UAH 33.7 thousand were received from the sale of the debtor's property.
The funds received were used to pay the liquidator's main remuneration and pay for banking services. The creditors' claims were not repaid due to insufficient funds.
According to Part 7 of Art. 64 of the Code of Ukraine on Bankruptcy Procedures, claims not repaid due to insufficient property are considered repaid.
Since there are no signs of actions to bring to bankruptcy, the liquidator of the bankrupt did not file an application with the court for the imposition of subsidiary liability on officials and other persons in connection with bringing the debtor to bankruptcy”, – said in the decision of the Economic Court of Kyiv dated 17.03.2021.</p
OJSC “Creativ Group” is the owner of 100% of the shares of PrJSC “Creativ”, of which 25% of the shares are pledged by Sberbank.
As part of court case No. 912/2980/16 on the claim of Sberbank against the debtor to foreclose on the shares of PJSC “Creativ”, a forensic examination was carried out and their actual value was set at 0 (zero) hryvnia.
26.04. 2021 The Economic Court of Kyiv approved the liquidation balance sheet of Plant of Modified Fats LLC (associated with Creative) and liquidated this structure due to bankruptcy (case No. 910/902/17).
According to court materials, creditor claims for UAH 7.54 billion remained outstanding as a result of the liquidation procedure, incl. claims of Ukreximbank — for UAH 4.51 billion, Oschadbank — for UAH 2.94 billion, PrJSC “Kreativ” — for UAH 89.9 million.
“In accordance with the provisions of Part 7 of Art. . 64 of the Code of Ukraine on bankruptcy procedures, claims that have not been paid due to insufficiency of property are considered settled,” the court ruling of 04/26/2021 said.
Zavod Modified Fats LLC was declared bankrupt by the decision of the Economic Court of Kyiv dated February 7, 2018.
In the course of the liquidation procedure, based on the results of an inventory of property assets and obligations of the debtor, the liquidator established that the bankrupt had property assets worth UAH 151.8 million, of which UAH 131 million. – accounts receivable; UAH 20.8 million – fixed assets.
After identifying the debtor's property assets, a liquidation estate in the amount of UAH 38 million was formed, due to which creditors' claims were partially repaid, as well as the costs of the liquidation procedure were repaid.
As noted above, the claims of creditors for UAH 7.54 billion remained outstanding.
The liquidator came to the conclusion that there were no legal grounds for filing a claim for bringing the bankrupt's officials to subsidiary liability due to the absence of signs of bringing to bankruptcy of Plant of Modified Fats LLC, the court ruling dated 04/26/2021 said.
As Finbalance wrote, on 03/25/2021, the Economic Court of Kyiv, in the framework of case No. 910/23852/16, approved the liquidation balance sheet and liquidated private enterprise “Ellada” (also from the “Creative” group).
This company was declared bankrupt in January 2018. In June 2017, the court recognized the claims of a number of creditors: Oschadbank – for UAH 3.43 billion (as secured by a pledge of the debtor's property), Ukreximbank (for UAH 4.2 billion), Plant of Modified Fats LLC (UAH 215.25 million), PrJSC “Kreativ” (UAH 671.3 million), Office of Large Taxpayers of the State Fiscal Service (UAH 203.1 million), Sistema SSB Corporation (UAH 316 million).
The Economic Court of Kyiv in its ruling dated March 25, 2021, stated that “as it can be seen from the report submitted for approval and the debtor’s liquidation balance sheet, the creditors’ claims recognized by the court and included in the register of creditors’ claims were not satisfied, due to the fact that the liquidator did not identify there are enough property assets to be included in the liquidation estate to pay off creditor claims, and in accordance with Part 7 of Art. 64 of the Code of Ukraine on Bankruptcy Procedures, claims not repaid due to insufficient property are considered repaid” (quotes).
As Finbalance wrote, on 04.12.2019, the Antimonopoly Committee granted permission to Pridneprovsky Oil Extraction Plant LLC (from Andrey Verevsky’s Kernel group) to acquire a plant for processing sunflower seeds and oil production, which belonged to Ellada PE: Kropivnitsky, Ave. Industrial, 14a.
On November 26, 2019, an auction was held for the sale of the said plant, which was held by the liquidator of the Hellas PE. The sale price was UAH 499.9 million. The sale of the asset took place in agreement with Oschadbank (as a secured creditor). The State Bank then agreed on a price of UAH 495 million for the corresponding auction. (despite the fact that during previous attempts to sell the relevant asset, Sberbank set the price at UAH 9.2 billion).
As Finbalance wrote, on February 11, 2021, the Economic Court of the Kyiv Region satisfied the claim of Ukreximbank against ODO “Yagotinsky grain-receiving enterprise” (in case No. 911/107/16) and decided to recover from the defendant in favor of the plaintiff the debt under several loan agreements2 and UAH 526.8 million .
According to court materials, the Yagotinsky Grain Receiving Enterprise was the guarantor of Kreativ PJSC.
04/28/2021 The Economic Court of the Kyiv Region satisfied the claim of Ukreximbank against the Yagotinsky Grain Receiving Enterprise (on the case No. 911/3997/16) and, in order to repay the debt, PJSC “Kreativ” under several loan agreements decided to foreclose (mortgagor and pledgor), including
— a property complex with an area of 19,428.70 sq. m, located at the address: Kyiv region, Yagotinsky district, Yagotin, st. Privokzalnaya, 21;
— a grain-receiving enterprise with an area of 7,090.3 sq.m, located at the address: Kyiv region, Zgurovsky district, town. Zgurovka, st. Komsomolskaya, 15;
— equipment located in the premises of ODO “Yagotinsky Grain Receiving Enterprise” at the specified addresses.
“Establish a way to sell the subject of mortgage and pledge by selling at public auction with the determination of the value of the property within the framework of the enforcement proceedings provided for by the Law of Ukraine “On Enforcement Proceedings” at a level not lower than the usual prices for this type of property based on the assessment, conducted sub-appraisal activities or an independent expert at the property valuation stage during enforcement actions,” the court decision said.
Ukreximbank reported that the Supreme Court demands to cancel the sale for UAH 51 million of the Protein Production plant for processing soybeans in the Kirovograd region, pledged to the state bank as security for the debt of the Creative group. As Ukreximbank informed, the corresponding auction for the sale of the plant took place in September 2019 in the absence of the consent of the bank as a secured creditor and at a significantly lower price of UAH 51 million compared to the market valuation of UAH 700 million.
15.04.2021 Okruzhny The administrative court of Kyiv satisfied the claim of the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Kyiv against PJSC “Kreativ” and decided to recover from all the company's accounts opened in banks the amount of the tax debt of UAH 209 million (case No. 826/19378/16).
According to court materials, the tax authorities noted that as of January 15, 2021, the amount of the tax debt of PJSC “Creativ” amounted to UAH 868.1 million, incl. with VAT — UAH 201 million, a fine — UAH 25.7 million, the balance of unpaid fines — UAH 641.3 million.
translationSkelet.Info
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