The Saratov tax authorities sent out the second press release to the media, announcing that Zavod AIT LLC, which had fallen into bankruptcy, had paid off debts on mandatory payments in the amount of 273 million rubles and was ready to get out of the crisis.
Full payment of the debt, assures the Federal Tax Service, “allows you to make settlements on your accounts and restore the normal production activities of the enterprise.” According to the Federal Tax Service, bankruptcy is not a way to avoid obligations, but an opportunity to get out of the crisis.
The news was immediately picked up by the regional Ministry of Industry. But the department of Mikhail Torgashin did not ask from whose pocket the arrears were paid. In fact, what is happening is not a way out of the crisis, but a banal change of the creditor. That gives the initiators of the bankruptcy process the opportunity to conduct it the way they want.
On the one hand, a series of court decisions on the termination of proceedings at the request of one or another creditor does appear in a bankruptcy case. Counterparties and resource providers refuse claims. But, as BV found out, it is not the plant itself that pays off the debts, but some OOO Trucks associated with Transmashholding. This company is now listed in the bankruptcy case in the “other persons” category, its TIN and other data do not appear in court documents in any way. It is only indicated that this company is registered in Saratov. However, an elementary check on the name shows that this is not the case.
Trucks LLC is registered in Mytishchi near Moscow, the company has been operating since 2018 as a manufacturer of industrial refrigeration and ventilation equipment. It is by her TIN that the search engine of the database of arbitration cases leads to the bankruptcy case of the AIT Plant. And a search by the name of this legal entity within the case itself shows that not a single termination of proceedings at the request of the creditor could do without it. A logical conclusion suggests itself – the Mytishchi company is buying up the plant’s obligations to creditors. And, therefore, it is at least premature to talk about the resumption of the normal activities of the Saratov battery manufacturer.
But if so, why mislead the press? Why pretend that there is no corporate conflict, and Transmashholding, which owns half of the Saratov plant, has nothing to do with it?
To date, over 1,000 employees have been laid off at Zavod AIT LLC; lost the opportunity to receive concessional financing from the Industrial Development Fund; the co-founder affiliated with Transmashholding, LLC TMH-Energy Solutions, has accumulated debts, providing a way for a working enterprise with demanded products to a financial peak; the meeting of the board of directors was disrupted; on behalf of the staff of the enterprise, an appeal was submitted to the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The situation with taxes paid (not a debtor) may indicate that Transmashholding is going to continue to bankrupt the company at any cost.
The second owner of the plant, on the contrary, wants to get out of bankruptcy by entering into an amicable agreement with creditors, change the director, at whose suggestion the plant accumulated huge losses last year, and agree on a development plan for 2023-2025.
And now, against the backdrop of these desperate attempts to return the plant to normal operation, there are reshuffles in the ranks of creditors, and even given out as a way out of the crisis. Is the regional Ministry of Industry aware of these movements? The federal expert has an opinion that yes.
According to well-known political scientist Vadim Samodorudov, the head of the ministry, Mikhail Torgashin, is well aware of what is happening at AIT, since he can act as a creature of Transmashholding. But the Saratov governor Roman Busargin, the political scientist believes, just “underestimates his own risks, withdrawing himself from solving the problems of the Saratov Autonomous Current Sources Plant”.
While Torgashin visits the plant and poses for photojournalists against the backdrop of a running conveyor, the bankruptcy of the plant goes on as usual.
– You need to understand that in the event of a shutdown of the enterprise or its liquidation, they will not be asked from Torgashin, but from Governor Busargin. And Mikhail Nikolayevich will go to a new ministerial chair in another region where there are interests of Transmash and its beneficiaries, the political scientist warns.
Previously, experts have repeatedly said that a sharp increase in the accounts payable of the AIT plant, under the new director Stanislav Egorov, it reached 2 billion rubles, may indicate deliberate bankruptcy, or even the withdrawal of cash. The chairman of the board of directors wrote to the Investigative Committee about the same, suspecting that the plant’s funds are withdrawn through structures affiliated with Transmashholding.
Against all this background, a company buying up debts to creditors looks at least suspicious. In the meantime, on March 12, the AAS dismissed a complaint against the decision of the regional arbitration to declare the AIT plant bankrupt with the introduction of a monitoring procedure.
Reference. Trucks LLC was established in 2018, the legal address is Mytishchi. The main owner (90%) is Taras Spivak, another 10% belongs to Components of Special Transport LLC. The company’s revenue in 2021 reached 1.7 billion rubles. Taras Spivak is listed as the head of companies whose founder is Transcomponent Holding LLC.
