Multibillion-dollar conflict around the bankruptcy of Shakhta im. Dzerzhinsky” and the claims of the Federal Tax Service to the Chelyabinsk oligarch deputy Konstantin Strukov, as well as the business associated with him and his family, entered a new round. Cassation, having listened to the position of the fiscals and the prosecutor’s office that supported it, sent the dispute on the recovery of damages for a new consideration. In the course of the proceedings, representatives of the state agency pointed to the property, bought out, probably at a price 48 times lower than its market value, the formation of a loss-making business model, multimillion-dollar payments to bankruptcy trustees and close ties of potential participants in the scheme. Fiscals emphasized that illegal, in their opinion, actions of the group led not only to a decrease in the bankruptcy estate, but also to an increase in current obligations to the treasury. Now the court will have to re-evaluate these arguments, but for now, businesses close to the Vice Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk Region are trying to fend off arrests of billions, citing obstacles to economic activity, likely large losses as a result of increasing accounts payable and problems with attracting debt financing and banking guarantees.
The Arbitration Court of the West Siberian District disclosed the details of the decision regarding the claims of the Federal Tax Service for the recovery from LLC MelTEK, LLC Energia-NK, LLC Management Company YuGK, JSC Yuzhuralzoloto Group of Companies (UGK), ex-director of MelTEK Andrei Zvyagintsev, Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk Region Konstantin Strukov and his daughter Evgenia Kuznetsova losses in the amount of 3.39 billion rubles. Fiscals also filed claims in the billions against three arbitration managers.
Let’s clarify, the court of first instance in the framework of the bankruptcy case of LLC Shakhta im. Dzerzhinsky, the application of the Federal Tax Service to the arbitrators was separated into a separate proceeding, and the rest of the requirements were denied. This position was subsequently upheld on appeal. However, representatives of the tax service did not agree with this scenario. In addition, as Pravda UrFO reported, the arbitration approved the arrest of movable and immovable property, property rights, with the exception of money in bank accounts, including those that will be received, in relation to the above persons, including the Chelyabinsk politician.
Having studied the positions of the parties, the cassation sent the dispute for a new consideration. As follows from the documents, in particular, the fiscal officials insisted that a business model was created, according to which the proceeds from the sale were fully transferred to the accounts of affiliated persons (MelTEK and Energiya-NK companies), which were credited to the debtor’s account only part of the funds received from the sale, obviously insufficient to fulfill current obligations. “The unlawful joint actions of the defendants led to a decrease in the bankruptcy estate and an increase in current obligations to the budget,” the representatives of the Federal Tax Service said.
When analyzing the conflict situation, it was noted that back in 2007, the liquidated debtor was declared bankrupt. At the same time, as follows from the materials, during the bankruptcy proceedings, the mine carried out economic activities for the extraction of hard coal on the basis of a license for the right to use subsoil, valid until 12/31/2023. The main part of the mined coal was supplied to the MelTEK company.
Further, in 2015, the Russian Ministry of Energy approved a comprehensive program for the phased liquidation of unprofitable mines and the resettlement of residents from dilapidated emergency housing in the cities of Prokopyevsk, Kiselevsk and Anzhero-Sudzhensk. The document provided for the refusal of unprofitable mines from their own licenses and the issuance of “dual” licenses to investors on the basis of an auction: the first – to grant the right to use new subsoil plots under the condition of developing coal residues; the second / carrying out liquidation measures at unprofitable mines.
After that, on the basis of the application of the bankruptcy trustee “Mine them. Dzerzhinsky” lost the right to use the subsoil. Energia-NK received a dual license. Moreover, “Mine them. Dzerzhinsky” was eventually involved as a contractor.
“Under the contract agreement <...> concluded between Energia-NK and the debtor (contractor), the contractor performed liquidation work, and also performed work on the extraction of marketable coal that was not provided for by the conditions. At the same time, Energia-NK did not pay for the coal mined and supplied by the debtor; direct losses of the debtor <…> amounted to 128.4 million rubles. Under contract No. 100-1<...>, the contractor performed liquidation work <...>, and also performed work on the extraction of commercial coal that was not provided for by the conditions with the involvement of subcontractors of the Universal-Trade and Universal-Trade-Plus companies. At the same time, according to the authorized body, coal mined in the period May-December 2016 and supplied by the debtor with a market value of 876.1 million rubles. the Energiya-NK company did not pay, ”in particular, it followed from the position provided by the Federal Tax Service.
Fiscals also emphasized that the fact that Energia-NK received property benefits and caused losses to the debtor as a result of the execution of contracts was confirmed, among other things, by documents drawn up by auditors following the results of a tax audit.
Based on this, special attention was paid to the connections within the group. MelTEK is a member of Energia-NK. Strukov K.I. manages an economic group of persons, is the president of the UGK Management Company, the chairman of the UGK Board of Directors. Kuznetsova E.K. (daughter of Strukov K.I.) is the ultimate beneficiary of the companies MelTEK, Energia-NK, YuGK. <…> Zvyagintsev A.V. exercised the powers of the director of the mine in the period from 04/14/2011 to 03/31/2016 on the basis of powers of attorney issued by bankruptcy trustees <…>; from 04/12/2016 to the present he has been the director of the MelTEK company, from 06/29/2018 to the present he has been a member of the board of directors of YuGK, the experts concluded.
Representatives of the state body also dwelled in detail on the activities of the aforementioned bankruptcy trustees. Stanislav Ilyin was reminded of the power of attorney for Zvyagintsev and the free transfer of the debtor’s license for subsoil use to the Energia-NK company. At the same time, it was emphasized that Ilyin “received a remuneration from the company “UK SGC” in the amount of 3.7 million rubles, from the company “MelTEK” – in the amount of 7 million rubles, in violation of the order of repayment of current payments transferred in favor of the specified group of persons cash in the amount of 517 million rubles.
With regard to Stas Sbitnev, the fiscals indicated that he “contributed to the transfer of the debtor to the actual management of MelTEK”; carried out actions facilitating the transfer of funds in the amount of 854.7 million rubles in violation of the priority established by law; withdrawal from the bankruptcy estate of the debtor of funds in the amount of 1.13 billion. At the same time, representatives of the Federal Tax Service noted that the tender received an additional remuneration in the amount of 10 million rubles from the MelTEK company. Major claims were also made against Alexander Okhotin.
“Society “MelTEK” <…>, being the main creditor of the debtor <…>, selected bankruptcy trustees, controlled their activities, including by paying additional remuneration; in the period 2013-2015 was the main buyer of the debtor’s products, from 2013 to 2019 received proceeds from the sale of the debtor’s products to the final consumer, prevented the decision to terminate the debtor’s current business activities. Energia-NK acquired the debtor’s property at a price 48 times lower than its market value, received a license for subsoil use through illegal actions of an arbitration manager <…>; in the period from 2015 to 2019, it purchased coal from the debtor at a price that was obviously unprofitable for the latter,” representatives of the Federal Tax Service also said.
We add that an important detail of these proceedings was the position of the prosecutor’s office of the Kemerovo region, which supported the arguments set forth in the cassation appeal of the Federal Tax Service and pointed to the failure of lower instances to comply with the instructions of the district court.
Earlier, the publication also reported in detail on the large claims of the Federal Tax Service against MelTEK LLC and directly against Konstantin Strukov, JSC Yuzhuralzoloto Group of Companies (UGK), who was presented with an offshore scheme.
