The mayor's office responded to the bankruptcy of Vodokanal Voronezh

Yesterday, the Voronezh Arbitration Court began bankruptcy proceedings at the MUP Vodokanal of Voronezh at the request of another municipal enterprise, Voronezhgorelectroset, which is leased from Voronezh Utility Systems. The Voronezh City Hall even fired the director of Gorelektroseti in order to withdraw the Vodokanal bankruptcy claim, but the arbitration court accepted the evidence of the already dismissed director and began the first stage of the bankruptcy procedure - observation.

Kommersant	OJSC Voronezh Communal Systems (VKS) was registered in August last year as a subsidiary of OJSC Russian Communal Systems (RKS). At the end of last year, VCS leased the sales functions of the Voronezhgorelektroset MP and intensified negotiations on the transfer of VCS to the two remaining municipal enterprises - Vodokanal Voronezh and Voronezhteploset.

Kommersant

OJSC Voronezh Communal Systems (VKS) was registered in August last year as a subsidiary of OJSC Russian Communal Systems (RKS). At the end of last year, VCS leased the sales functions of the Voronezhgorelektroset MP and intensified negotiations on the transfer of VCS to the two remaining municipal enterprises - Vodokanal Voronezh and Voronezhteploset.

As Kommersant reported, negotiations between the city administration and the management of VKS were unsuccessful, and there was even talk of terminating the lease agreement for the Voronezhgorelektroset MP by utility systems due to VKS’s failure to comply with the terms of the transfer. At the end of February, the regional arbitration court received three statements of claim initiating bankruptcy procedures for the Voronezhteploset MP, the Voronezhgorelektroset MP and Vodokanal Voronezh. The claims were filed by Voronezhgorelectroset MP, which is leased from VKS, and Voronezhenergo OJSC. According to the mayor's office, the filing of claims was initiated by the management of RKS.
RKS denies that they are the initiators of the bankruptcy of the Voronezh communal apartment. “Voronezh enterprises have no debts to us, so we could not initiate bankruptcy proceedings,” the RKS press service said.
As Alexander Boldyrev, chief of staff of the Voronezh City Hall, told a Kommersant correspondent yesterday, immediately after the city administration learned that the director of the Voronezhgorelektroset MP had initiated bankruptcy proceedings for two other municipal enterprises, he was presented with an ultimatum: if Sergei Dmitriev does not withdraw the application, he will be fired. Mr. Dmitriev did not withdraw the claim, but went on sick leave. Nevertheless, he was fired, and Voronezh Mayor Boris Skrynnikov appointed Sergei Sedash as the new director of the Voronezhgorelectroset MP. He has already sent to arbitration an application to withdraw the application for the introduction of bankruptcy proceedings at the Vodokanal Voronezh Municipal Unitary Enterprise and Voronezhteploset MP.
Yesterday, the Arbitration Court of the Voronezh Region held a hearing on the application of the Voronezhgorelektroset MP for the bankruptcy of the Vodokanal Voronezh Municipal Unitary Enterprise. The former director of the enterprise, Sergei Dmitriev, and its new director, Sergei Sedash, were simultaneously present at the trial. The application to withdraw the claim was rejected, and the court heard the arguments of only Sergei Dmitriev. As a result, the court decided to introduce the first stage of the bankruptcy procedure at the enterprise - observation. It was decided to appoint an arbitration manager from the Ural Self-Regulatory Organization of Managers. The head of the city administration, Alexander Boldyrev, told Kommersant yesterday that “the judge was given money - she made a decision.” “In court, the interests of our municipal organization were represented by two directors, but the court accepted the arguments of the one we fired,” Mr. Boldyrev said, and also shared the mayor’s plans to challenge the decision of the Voronezh Arbitration Court in the Bryansk District Court.
The monitoring procedure at the Vodokanal Voronezh municipal unitary enterprise will continue in the coming month - during this time the manager will conduct an audit of the enterprise and will have to recommend bankruptcy proceedings to the arbitration court. Most likely, bankruptcy proceedings will be introduced and the manager will sell all assets of MUP Vodokanal Voronezh at liquidation value. According to city hall officials, there is already one buyer for the enterprise's property - Russian Utility Systems OJSC.
DMITRY ORISCHENKO

Kommersant (Voronezh) No. 79 from 04/30/2004

"The judge was given money - she made a decision"