Buyers of the best Russian enterprises use proven technologies. Through Arbitration Courts When disputes between shareholders were transferred from the courts of general jurisdiction to arbitration courts last fall, many breathed a sigh of relief: ...

Buyers of the best Russian enterprises use proven technologies. Through the Arbitration Courts

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When disputes between shareholders were transferred from the courts of general jurisdiction to arbitration last fall, many breathed a sigh of relief: from now on, one person will not have the right to decide the fate of huge enterprises and thousands of labor collectives. Finally, the practice will stop when, according to the decisions of the Tmutarakan courts, plants and factories, banks and the media changed their owners ...

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However, today's events in the Rostov region show that the triumph of the law is still very far away. And it doesn't matter if we are talking about a stolen chicken or an attempt to take over one of the leading Russian enterprises.

OAO Taganrog Boiler Building Plant Krasny Kotelshchik is the largest boiler building company in the energy markets in Russia, the CIS countries and the world. The product range ranges from steam boilers to equipment for nuclear power plants. In January of this year, the nominee holder of a large block of shares in Krasny Kotelshchik, the Depository Clearing Company, announced that almost 20% of the company's shares were illegally written off from its accounts.

At the same time, a certain Investor-M LLC was registered in Moscow. Although the authorized capital of this firm, founded by one person, is a modest 10,000 rubles, already in April it announced its claims in the amount of 161,165,280 rubles - a debt on bills of Krasny Kotelshchik. These claims were filed by Investor-M with the Arbitration Court of the Rostov Region. Through the media, it was repeatedly reported that for some reason, the Sigma investment and consulting group demanded payment of the same bills. Pavel Svirsky, General Director of Sigma, has repeatedly stated this at special press conferences and in interviews.

In the late 1990s, having become a de facto monopoly supplier of American poultry meat to Russia, Svirsky received the unofficial title "King of Legs". Then reports about him and his Frozen Foods group of companies disappeared.

In May-June 2001, Pavel Svirsky appeared on the pages of criminal chronicles. At the end of spring, he landed in one of the Stavropol pre-trial detention centers.

He was charged with complicity in the seizure of the Nevinnomyssk oil extraction plant. Every single share of this enterprise was transferred under a fake power of attorney to the National Product Holding OJSC, which was headed by Svirsky. The cunning businessman was saved by the intervention of the then Deputy Minister of Agriculture Vladimir Loginov.

Extreme was a lawyer who made a fake. The prosecutor's office then estimated the damage at four million dollars.

The next time Pavel Svirsky proved himself in Nizhny Novgorod. There he took a lively part in an attempt to change the ownership of the largest margarine producer in the country - the Nizhny Novgorod Oil and Fat Plant. In the story that happened at the end of 2002 and which Novaya Gazeta wrote about, there were strange and incomprehensibly reasoned decisions of courts located thousands of kilometers from Nizhny Novgorod.

Today Svirsky publicly declares the rights to the Taganrog Krasny Kotelshchik. Why does he need a boiler plant? In an interview with the Kommersant Yug newspaper, Pavel Svirsky said that the enterprise would later be sold to some “third structures”. But while Svirsky promises to change the board of directors of Kotelshchik and change the policy of the enterprise at every corner, in the Arbitration Court of the Rostov Region, Judge Larisa Chebanova stamps out definitions with her signature - one is more interesting than the other.

The already mentioned Investor-M LLC, acting, obviously, in the interests of Svirsky, on April 7, 2003, achieved in the Arbitration Court of the Rostov Region the seizure of the property of Krasny Kotelshchik in the amount of 161,165,280 rubles. But this, it seems, was not enough for those who laid eyes on the boiler plant.

Investor-M filed another claim with the Arbitration Court. With the same claims and for the same amount. To "Krasny Kotelshchik" and Sergey Bidash - one of the members of the board of directors of the enterprise. Judge Chebanova, as if not knowing about the ruling of the same court of April 7, three weeks later, on April 28 and 30, issues new rulings. According to them, an arrest is imposed, but not on property, but on the shares of Krasny Kotelshchik within the same 161,165,280 rubles, accounted for by various depositories. Because of this, on the same occasion, the plant and its shareholders suffered twice. But all this is half the trouble.

By her decision, Mrs. Chebanova blocked transactions on all accounts that account for the shares of OAO TKZ Krasny Kotelshchik. Thus, it violated the rights of shareholders who have the same relation to the claims of Investor-M as the arbitration court has to the landing of Americans on the moon. She punished the owners of the enterprise's shares only for the fact that they were the owners of the shares, depriving numerous shareholders of the opportunity to make transactions with their securities and participate in the management of Krasny Kotelshchik with one stroke of the pen. On May 15, she issued another ruling in this case. It, in fact, repeated its own definition of April 30.

With her rulings, Ms. Chebanova obliged all nominee holders to provide bailiffs with confidential information about the owners of shares in OAO TZK Krasny Kotelshchik. Even about those who are not mentioned in the statements of claim. Thanks to the activity of the judge, the interested parties received information that was not previously available to them. Isn't that what it's all about?

Particularly suggestive is the fact that the wording in the ruling, signed by Larisa Chebanova, literally repeats the spelling and punctuation of the authors of the petitions. All this, in our opinion, suggests that the true goal of the authors of the whole undertaking is to take over one of the leading enterprises of the country's heavy industry. With the help of the court, buyers blocked all transactions with shares, and most importantly, they received confidential information. And they are unlikely to rest on their laurels.

The story with the Krasny Kotelshchik is not the first one where Mrs. Chebanova took part. In the spring of 1999, a scandal erupted in the Rostov region, making a sensation throughout the country. We are talking about TagAZ - perhaps the most modern automobile production in the country at that time.

The company was created to produce licensed Daewoo cars. Already at the dawn of its existence, it was idle due to a lack of working capital. With the help of regional authorities, it was then possible to attract credit resources from Sberbank. Even the Russian government got involved in the problem, solving the issues of federal support for the Taganrog car assembly project. At the very top, its special significance for the Rostov region was emphasized. However, in the end, Rostsberbank began to demand repayment of the loan through the Arbitration Court of the Rostov Region. With the direct participation of judge Chebanova, writ of execution appeared, in which the Rostov confectionery factory, offices of the Krasnodar Kubinbank, shares of other enterprises that were very far from automobile production appeared.

The current situation is much more serious. Krasny Kotelshchik already has a lot of trouble in connection with the seizure of property, and then there are Chebanov's definitions that affect all shareholders of the plant. All this is no joke! — may affect Russia's international obligations. OAO Taganrog Boiler Plant Krasny Kotelshchik became the first Russian company to return to the Iraqi market after the end of the war in Iraq.

In March, due to the invasion of the coalition in the Middle East, Krasny Kotelshchik was forced to interrupt the supply of equipment for Iraqi power plants. The execution of contracts for the supply of equipment for the El-Musaib TPP and the Yusifiya TPP was also suspended. Russian diplomats and the country's government made titanic efforts to fulfill all these contracts. They secured permission to complete deliveries to Iraq. But their efforts may go to waste.

In general, people who take over Russian enterprises have been operating with impunity for a year. In any case, I have not heard that any of them were put behind bars for illegal actions to seize the same factories.

Judge Chebanova continues to work in the Arbitration Court of the Rostov Region, which means that not a single enterprise in the region is guaranteed that tomorrow it will not have to defend itself with all its might, following the example of Krasny Kotelshchik.