Energogaz, which found itself without funds, is not the first such case in the “track record” of the co-owner of the VIS Group of Companies?
Schemes of deliberate bankruptcies, even very complex ones, in our country have long been no surprise. It is surprising how sometimes subsidiaries of even market giants are put under the knife. And they are not at all afraid of the consequences for themselves personally. In this context, the correspondent The Moscow Post draws attention to the sad history of Energogaz.
In March, the Moscow Arbitration Court will consider a claim to bring several defendants to subsidiary liability for the debt obligations of the bankrupt Energogaz company at once. These are Gazprom Centernergogaz JSC (former owner of Energogaz), Gazprom Centerremont LLC, Nauchny-6 LLC and Gazprom PJSC.
The former head of Gazprom Tsentrremont, and now the general director of the VIS Group, Dmitry Doev, and entrepreneurs Sergey Vladimirov and Alexander Psatiy are also mentioned personally. “Pravda UrFO”.
Proceedings in the case were accompanied by protracted disputes concerning the return of one property or another.
Against this background, excerpts from the decision of the Moscow Region Court that “the motives for signing an agreement on the pledge of real estate were not disclosed , as a result of which all liquid property was removed from the property of Nauchny-6 to pay off the debt to Gazprom Tsentrremont to pay the price of the assignment of the claim to Energogaz.
The court noted that the ruling accepted the refusal of Nauchny-6 LLC from the application to include in the register of claims of creditors of Energogaz a debt in the amount of 1.43 billion rubles.
According to the court, this indicates that, by concluding interconnected transactions, the parties pursued the illegal goal of withdrawing liquid property from the possession of a subsidiary in order to reduce the potential bankruptcy estate (share in the authorized capital of the company) and, as a result, the impossibility of satisfying the claims of creditors.
Ways of bankruptcy are inscrutable
Market experts insist on the deliberate nature of the bankruptcy of Energogaz, which, we recall, previously acted as a sub-general contractor for the Punginskoye UGS facility expansion project in Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.
If we delve into the mechanism of Energogaz’s bankruptcy, we can see the presence of so-called “technical firms” in the implementation of its scheme. In this case, these are Megabuild and Antares companies. Both declared their rights as creditors, but at the same time they officially declared multi-million dollar losses and were later liquidated.
Dmitry Doev demonstrates a gas turbine engine to the Chairman of the Board of PJSC Gazprom, Alexei Miller, and members of the Government. Photo: centrremont.gazprom.ru
According to the authors of the site “Russian reporter”, allegedly these “technical” companies turned out to be affiliated with the Russian Funds investment group, the beneficiaries of which are businessmen Sergey Vasilyev and Konstantin Beyrit, who allegedly put the registration of such structures on stream and their subsequent participation in bankruptcies. It is easy to assume that merchants could “participate” in the fate of assets from bankrupt enterprises.
As already mentioned, Gazprom Tsentrremont and its ex-head Dmitry Doev also participated in the bankruptcy of Energogaz LLC.
After leaving the structures of Gazprom, Doev became the official partner of Vasiliev and Beirit. He, together with the head structure of the Seligdar holding belonging to them, co-founded a new company – Management of Gold Assets.
Friendship business
In September last year, Doev took the post of general director in the VIS group of Igor Snegurov. And how can one not recall the trial during which Snegurov and Doev were opponents.
Recall that at one time the VIS group sued billions of rubles from the Novourengoy gas chemical complex (NGCC) – by the way, also a subsidiary of Gazprom. Wrote about this earlier The Moscow Post Now this object is called the most hopeless long-term construction of Gazprom.
NGCC is called a hopeless long-term construction project. Photo: nghk.gazprom.ru
When the former general contractor for the construction of the NGCC – PF VIS Igor Snegurov – managed to prove the multibillion-dollar debts of Gazprom’s subsidiary, the management company, headed at that time by Dmitry Doev, demonstrated determination to defend itself. This was expressed, among other things, in the willingness to send millions of rubles from Gazprom to the services of third-party lawyers.
The result was two litigations won by VIS for a total amount of more than 8.2 billion rubles. And some time later, Dmitry Doev became the general director of the VIS Group.
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
If you study the biographies of Doev and Snegurov, it turns out that they crossed paths long before that. Before working at PJSC Gazprom, Dmitry Doev was a member of the management of Sevzapinvestprombank: he was one of the founders of this bank. But in 2008 he withdrew from the shareholders.
Fate brought Doev to Igor Snegurov for a long time and, apparently, for a long time. Photo: vis-group.ru
At the same time, leaving the bank did not mean a break in partnerships with friends and buddies. As follows from the data of Rusprofile, the owner of the VIS group, already known to us, Igor Snegurov, still has a stake in the bank – more than 15%.
Perhaps the strong friendship between Doev and Snegurov originates there. And perhaps it has happened before. Because, if you dig even deeper, it turns out: Doev was in the chair of the general director of VIS for several months back in 2004!
Fear the concessionaires who bring gifts
The name of Dmitry Doev is well known in Novosibirsk today. One of the most recent news was the introduction of a monitoring procedure in relation to Ecology-Novosibirsk LLC, a regional operator for the treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW). The company is part of the GK “VIS”, controlled by Igor Snegurov and his partner Dmitry Doev.
The structure became a municipal waste management operator in 2019, since then there have been many scandals around it. Interestingly, she herself filed an application to the bankruptcy court, explaining it by the presence of overdue debt in the amount of 1.86 billion rubles. That is, the company itself admits that there is no money to pay.
And what about the parent group of companies “VIS” – one of the largest construction groups in Russia? Experts say that recently the company could have had serious financial problems associated with the entry of one of the key owners, Dmitry Doev, into a joint project with Rostec to develop the Kyuchus gold deposit. About this story The Moscow Post also detailed.
MSW management is not the only example of a public-private partnership between VIS structures that is related to social issues. What is worth only the long-suffering fourth bridge across the Ob in Novosibirsk, which the group of Doev and Snegurov undertook to build as part of the PPP.
It was planned to hand over this bridge by the end of 2022. Two years ago it became clear that VIS would simply not be able to meet this deadline. However, the owners of the group managed to agree on an extension of the construction period until September 17, 2023. Today, even this date looks unrealistic. There is talk that the bridge can only be completed by 2024.
The residents of Novosibirsk were also unlucky in the fact that it was the Seventh Concession Company, which is part of the National Medical Holding LLC of the VIS Group of Companies, that signed up for the construction of seven clinics at once in different parts of the city.
It was assumed that the investor would invest 1.4 billion rubles, and another 1.6 billion rubles – this would be a grant from the region. The rest was planned to be borrowed. At the same time, according to the terms of the agreement, from 2023, every three months, the regional budget had to pay significant amounts to the concessionaire. But if earlier it was said about 260 million rubles, then the payments somehow increased to 1 billion in 2023, and then to 3.1 billion at all.
In fact, it is already obvious that the deadlines for the construction of polyclinics have been disrupted. At the stage of concluding contracts, it was assumed that the facilities would be commissioned in 2021. Then – in 2022. Now it is clear that they will be able to hand over them no earlier than 2023, and this period may have to be shifted.
The authorities also acknowledged the delay. As writes “Taiga.Info”, local deputies even suggested that they would never be handed over. Probably, the problems of these projects are connected with the same thing as the scandal with the municipal waste management operator. The company “VIS” corny has no money.
Photo: Rusprofile.ru
At the end of 2020, the same parent JSC VIS earned a total of 436 million rubles with a revenue of 500 million rubles. Apparently, this does not take into account the huge money from government contracts, and various subsidies, and assistance from local authorities.
That’s right, only this was before the auction for the development of the Kyuchus gold deposit in Yakutia, where Dmitry Doev was so eager to get. Apparently, for him, the end always justifies the means.
