in bankruptcy” First locomotive company” found a reason for subsidiary liability. No less loud than the notorious 27 billion rubles in the case of the Engels Locomotive Plant, which they wanted to divide between Alexander Strelyukhin and Co.
The bankruptcy trustee of the PLC, Kirill Prokofiev, asks the court to bring on the company’s debts its foreign partner, the German company Alstom Transportation Germany GmbH, the former Bombardier Transportation. Once this company developed a two-system locomotive specifically for the Russian gauge 1520. They were supposed to be produced by the Engels Locomotive Plant in partnership with PLC.
The manager asks to hold the German company accountable as a controlling person. The amount of liability has not yet been determined, first you need to sell the property found at the PLC, reimburse at least part of the creditors’ claims through these sales, and only then look at what is left. An application for a subsidy has just been submitted to the Moscow Arbitration Court, the manager Prokofiev announced about it on June 1.
Previously, he petitioned for the application of the consequences of the invalidity of the deal between Bombardier Transportation and PLC, under which the German partners received 29.1 million euros, but on May 18 the court ruled on the refusal. As the court concluded, the foreign company received the money under a contract for the supply of components and traction equipment for locomotives, which it signed with PLC in 2013. The customer received part of the equipment, so the transfer of money to Bombardier Transportation cannot be called free of charge, and the deal is fictitious.
Another thing is that the order was only partially executed: the company delivered goods for 4.5 million euros, and 24.5 million turned out to be an advance payment, which it was in no hurry to return. And taking into account the international situation and sanctions, it is not a fact that it will be possible to obtain it even within the framework of subsidiary liability.
While the manager of the First Locomotive Company is looking for how to get close to the German company, the new owner of the locomotive plant premises, Inter Cargo Company JSC, filed claims with the PLC itself. The lawsuit for 14.8 million was filed in early May. The buyers of the locomotive plant are seeking unjust enrichment from its former partner. These debts were accumulating already during the period of bankruptcy of the PLC, in February-March 2023. The case was only accepted for proceedings, so the mechanism for the occurrence of this enrichment in the court documents has not yet been reflected. Perhaps we are talking about some kind of overpayment or a valid lease agreement.
Inter Cargo Company bought the industrial site of the locomotive plant in Engels for 2.8 billion rubles. The company is engaged in the repair, rental and sale of railway cars and has its own, very extensive car fleet.
In the meantime, the beginning of the auction for the sale of the property of the PLC, located on the same site, is approaching – equipment, office furniture, office equipment and, most importantly, two electric locomotives that they managed to build at the plant. Experimental locomotives that were almost never used were counted 50% of wear and tear and are offered for 111.3 million and 124.2 million rubles. The rest of the property, folded into one lot, exhibited for 621.3 million rubles, the auction should take place on June 21.
