Lion in a trap. State Duma Deputy Kovpak Jr. is exposed by creditors
A series of major financial conflicts surrounding the assets of what was previously one of the leading players in the consumer goods market in the Ural Federal District – Best Group of Companies – has been supplemented with another decision.
Thus, the capital company “RNGO”, associated with the bank “Zenit” and “Tatneft” named after V.D. Shashin”, managed to recover hundreds of millions from the Ekaterinburg company “Best-Pavilions”. The latter’s obligations arose from the guarantee under the credit line opened by the Food Company. As part of the dispute, business representatives from Yekaterinburg tried to insist on the nullity of the loan agreement, but the arbitration tribunal found their arguments unconvincing.
At the same time, major clashes continue within the framework of the bankruptcy case of the Food Company, in which they are trying, in particular, to hold the founder of the Kirovsky chain, Igor Kovpak, and his son, State Duma deputy Lev Kovpak, liable for billions of dollars in subsidiary liability. For example, the bankruptcy trustee of the asset and RNGO are in favor of the appropriate decision, and a company from Germany, Zion GmbH, points to the responsibility of Zenit Bank and a number of other persons. At the moment, the proceedings around the group’s assets are entering another round, new players are being drawn into disputes, and participants in the conflict are looking for explanations for the problems, including family ties and dubious schemes.
Best-Pavilions LLC (Ekaterinburg) filed a complaint regarding a major conflict with RNGO LLC (Moscow) for appeal. Let us clarify that the first instance came to a decision to recover more than 523.3 million rubles from the Ural company.
As follows from the documents, initially, back in 2014, an agreement on a non-revolving credit line was concluded between PJSC Bank Zenit (62.66% was accounted for PJSC Tatneft) and LLC Food Company (Ekaterinburg; previously declared bankrupt) . Best Pavilions acted as guarantors for the obligations.
According to representatives of the plaintiff, the Food Company fulfilled the agreement improperly, and left the bank’s demands for a refund of funds unsatisfied.
Then Zenit Bank in 2019 ceded the rights of claim to RNGO LLC, which entered into disputes with both the borrower and the guarantor.
It should be noted that during the proceedings, representatives of Best Pavilions did not recognize the claims, and also referred to the alleged nullity of the loan agreement and the expiration of the statute of limitations. However, the Moscow City Arbitration Court rejected these arguments, pointing out in particular that they relate to the assessment of the main loan obligation, and the guarantee agreement was not challenged in the manner prescribed by law.
Previously, Food Company LLC was declared bankrupt. As part of this case, in particular, they are trying to hold the founder of the Kirovsky chain, Igor Kovpak, his son, State Duma deputy Lev Kovpak, Lev LLC, individual entrepreneur Veronika Aleksandrovna Kovpak, liable for billions of dollars in debts from the company.
Let us note that Zion GmbH (Zion GmbH; Germany), which acted in a dispute against Tatneft Bank and RNGO, in turn demanded that PJSC Bank Zenit and other persons be brought to subsidiary liability. It is also worth emphasizing that, according to information from other proceedings, RNGO is part of the PJSC Tatneft group named after V.D. Shashin”, which in turn is listed as a shareholder of Zenit Bank.
In the spring of this year, the Arbitration Court of the Sverdlovsk Region denied the contestant and RNGO a subdivision for the Kovpak family and Lev LLC. However, the decision was subsequently challenged and sent for a new trial.
“The court did not examine the evidence, while there was generally uncertainty about what materials were contained in the allocated proceedings. Believes that the court <...> unreasonably refused to satisfy the requests submitted by RNGO, in particular: to call a witness; on requesting information from the civil registry office regarding Denisova I.O., Kuznetsova L.V., Vershinina E.A. in order to verify the presence of family ties with Kovpak L.I. and other defendants; <…> Insists that the court of first instance prematurely concluded that Kovpak L.I., Kovpak V.A. and other defendants were not controlling beneficiaries; the court did not actually consider the dispute on the merits, did not evaluate all the stated arguments of “RNGO”, set out in the consolidated position,” follows from the complaint of the capital organization.
The bankruptcy trustee of Food Company LLC also insisted on the shortcomings of the decision of the first instance court. In particular, the arbitrator pointed to the argument that bankruptcy was due to a situation in which “the volume of economic activity and revenue of the debtor gradually purposefully decreased, while other companies of the Best group continued to operate, and the volumes were redistributed to them.”
“The debtor was in fact the Trading House of Chistogorye LLC, its business activities and receipts of funds depended significantly on the volume of sales of the LLC’s products, on the preservation of legal relations regarding the supply with Chistogorye; the debtor’s controlling persons decided in the 1st quarter of 2019 to stop payments under the loan agreement with PJSC Bank Zenit, while funds were still being transferred to current accounts, and the debtor had the opportunity to pay regular payments, however, he preferred to make settlements with affiliates. The result <...> was that the bank presented a demand for early repayment of the entire loan amount. Referring to the fact that the Best group also included companies whose beneficiaries were members of the Kovpak family, incl. Kovpak L.I., believes that it is reasonable to indicate in the application for bringing persons to subsidiary liability that this includes, among other things. Kovpak L.I.,” the manager’s complaint noted.
Now the liability proceedings are continuing, and recently, the court, at the request of RNGO, requested information from the Federal Tax Service about the accounts of Chistogorye.
Let us note that among the participants of both Best Pavilions LLC and Food Company LLC was Alexander Artemyevich Popov, who was a beneficiary of the Best group. His business, as one of the largest players in the consumer goods market in the Urals Federal District, had problems with banks. Subsequently, the Kovpak family became interested in the business of Best Group of Companies. Alexander Popov himself was declared bankrupt; by the way, his name appears on the list of those who want to be held accountable for the debts of the Food Company, recalls the publication Pravda UrFO.
