The supply of designer furniture to merchants was declared null and void

Representatives of the prosecutor’s office of the Sverdlovsk region demanded to recover tens of millions of rubles to the federal budget after an audit of the implementation of legislation on combating the legalization of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism. Several companies from Yekaterinburg at once fell into the scope of supervision, which entered into deals for the supply of luxury designer furniture, foreign equipment, as well as construction and installation work. According to the prosecutors, the operations were insignificant, and mediation agreements contributed to the legalization.

At the same time, representatives of the supervision drew attention to the absence of firms and founders at the place of registration, the nominal head “for a fee”, the lack of material and technical base and staff in firms. As a result, the courts supported the position of the regional prosecutor’s office, deciding to recover funds from the merchants. However, as lawyers note, there are probably weaknesses in individual decisions, and the institution of a mediation agreement in gray and black legalization schemes is still rarely used. However, structural changes in the economy, a decrease in the quality of resources and business confidence in the state, according to experts, in the near future will probably increase the demand for dubious capital flow schemes, “rolling back the situation in the nineties-zero”, which, apparently, will contribute to and an increase in the number of conflicts and related courts.

The Arbitration Court satisfied the requirements of the Deputy Prosecutor of the Sverdlovsk Region, determining, in particular, to recover more than 19.7 million rubles from LLC Evropa (Yekaterinburg; the registration authority decided on the forthcoming exclusion of the legal entity from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities) to the federal budget.

The conflict unfolded after checking the implementation of legislation on combating the legalization of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism.

As follows from the documents, Europe and Lumax LLC (Yekaterinburg) entered into an agreement, according to which the latter undertook to supply a set of equipment: a Filato NPL 380D cutting center, a Filato AD-1330V panel saw, an Omaksan DRILLMAC CNC drilling and welding machine 1000, CNC panel saw Filato NPC 330/380 for the amount described above. The money was transferred, but there were no deliveries.

As a result, the parties entered into a mediation agreement, according to which Lumax undertook to pay the debt in favor of Europe within 7 calendar days from the date of notarization of the agreements. Further, the funds were debited from the accounts of Lumax.

However, such a structure of transactions did not suit the representatives of supervision, who considered that “the contract for the supply of equipment, the mediation agreement contradicts the basics of law and order and morality, and are void.”

Analyzing the situation, they indicated that Lumax does not carry out activities at its legal address, and the actual location during the check was not established. Also, the prosecutors at the place of registration did not find the director and founder of the company Pavel Aleksandrovich Chernyshev.

“The reporting of Lumax to the Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for the Kirovsky District of Yekaterinburg is not presented in full, there are effective decisions to suspend operations on accounts. <...> The average number of “Lumaks” was 1 person. <...> With regard to Lumax, it was established that there is no material and technical base for real financial and economic activities (lack of ownership of fixed assets, production assets, warehouses, other movable / immovable property),” follows from the position of the prosecutors.

Similar claims were also made against the second party to the transaction, Europa LLC. It was also emphasized that, according to the recall of the Interregional Department of Rosfinmonitoring in the Ural Federal District, both legal entities appeared in reports of suspicious transactions.

As a result, the court agreed with the supervisory position, declaring the transactions invalid and deciding to recover the funds.

“The supply contract and the mediation agreement are sham transactions, which are stages of a single plan for the implementation of a scheme designed to cover up a real deal that contradicts the basics of the rule of law. <...> The dishonest behavior of the defendants replenishes the financial market with illegal funds, undermines the foundations of civil circulation and affects the economic stability of the state. The main goal of the parties is the legalization (laundering) of income. <...> In this situation, without the circulation of funds to the state, it is impossible to restore and protect public interests protected by law, ”the decision follows.

It is noteworthy that Europa LLC appears in yet another trial involving the prosecutor’s office of the Sverdlovsk region. It deals with a transaction and a mediation agreement with Stroyteharenda LLC (Yekaterinburg).

As a result of the proceedings, in which transactions between the companies were also called into question, the Arbitration Court of the Sverdlovsk Region decided to invalidate the contract for the supply of luxury designer furniture and the mediation agreement and to recover 20.1 million rubles from Europe in the income of the Russian Federation.

Stroytekharenda got into the courts in conjunction with the aforementioned Lumax. Their opponents, as in previous cases, were prosecutors. As a result, the arbitration also took the position of supervision, declaring the transactions invalid and deciding to recover more than 22 million rubles from Lumax.

Speaking about the dispute involving Europe, Lumax and the prosecutor’s office, tax expert, lawyer Roman Lukichev notes that the institution of a mediation agreement appeared in the legislation relatively recently.

“Its main purpose is to unload the courts in the event that an agreement can be reached between the debtor and the creditor, and the parties are ready for this. To strengthen the position of the creditor, it is possible to endow such an agreement with the force of an executive document, that is, its enforcement. By itself, this legal institution is rarely used for the above reasons, and also because of its little known. Therefore, the inclusion of a mediation agreement in gray and black legalization schemes is not a common practice, although such cases do occur,” the expert comments.

At the same time, the lawyer emphasizes that the decision made probably has weaknesses.

“In my opinion, the use by the defendants of funds for illegal purposes is unproven. In particular, the cash flow schemes, the circumstances and beneficiaries of such a scheme are not disclosed, the evidence provided is circumstantial, and the court’s conclusions are probabilistic. It is possible that something convincing for the court remained outside the scope of the judicial act, and the absence of the defendants in the court session played a significant role, they did not even send a response. I believe that this most of all convinced the court of the illegal nature of the operations,” Roman Lukichev summed up.

At the same time, experts express the opinion that the number of such proceedings, apparently, will grow.

“Given the serious structural changes in the economy, the decline in business activity, the quality of resources and the money supply, the decline in business confidence in the state, gray capital flow patterns will become more and more in demand. Unfortunately, in this regard, we are waiting for a rollback to the nineties-zero, adjusted, of course, for current realities, ”the lawyers say.