Translated material
Flight supervision
AirUnion received support from the prosecutor's office and the arbitration court
The Transport Prosecutor's Office, as reported yesterday by the Prosecutor General's Office, has begun an investigation into delays in flights of the AirUnion alliance, which, despite the efforts of the company itself and the federal authorities, are still ongoing. Thus, yesterday eight flights were delayed at Domodedovo Airport, but soon, at the request of the prosecutor’s office, airport services restored aircraft service. “An analysis of incoming information indicates the inability of the airlines that are members of the AirUnion alliance to timely and fully provide passengers with transportation services according to the flight schedule,” the Prosecutor General’s Office noted in a statement. It also presented the first results of an audit of the AirUnion airline alliance carried out by the Moscow Interregional Transport Prosecutor's Office, the controlling stake of which is expected to be transferred to the state corporation Russian Technologies. Under the latter’s guarantee, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the alliance was given powers to distribute fuel from Rosrezerv. As a result, Rosrezerv allocated 24 thousand tons of jet fuel to AirUnion until September 14 to overcome the transportation crisis.For explanations, AirUnion General Director Mikhail Moshiashvili was summoned to the transport prosecutor's office, who testified that he had sent applications to Rosrezerv for the supply of jet fuel to the airports of Domodedovo - 12 thousand tons, Krasnoyarsk - 7.2 thousand tons, Vladivostok - 1 thousand . tons Nevertheless, Domodedovo intended to stop ground servicing of the alliance’s vessels even after that, for which the Moscow Transport Prosecutor’s Office issued a warning to the managing director of Domodedovo Airport Commercial Agency CJSC.
AirUnion's problems (which includes Krasair, Domodedovo Airlines, Samara, Omskavia, and Sibavtotrans) began at the end of August, when it accumulated a huge debt to pay for jet fuel. Massive flight delays began - hundreds of people were unable to fly out of airports for days. As of September 1, the alliance's debt was about $1 billion, and claims against the company continue to be received. In particular, AirUnion’s partner, the leasing company Ilyushin Finance, filed a claim for bankruptcy of the alliance with the Krasnoyarsk Arbitration Court. But Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov and the head of the Ministry of Transport, Igor Levitin, opposed the bankruptcy of AirUnion.
However, this week information appeared that Rosimushchestvo and Rostekhnologii are not confident in their intentions regarding supporting the alliance on the grounds that “the shareholders and management of the airlines have not developed an adequate crisis management program.”
Financial disputes are resolved with varying degrees of success by the members of the alliance themselves. This week, the Moscow Arbitration Court decided to reduce tax claims against Krasair airline from 821 to 310 million rubles, partially satisfying the company’s claim against the Federal Tax Service. The Federal Tax Service accused the airline of tax evasion through “economically unjustified leasing schemes.” True, the court's decision serves as little consolation for Krasair, which is on the verge of bankruptcy and has a total debt of about $100 million.
The court considered episodes of the company's activities in the period from January 1, 2004 to the third quarter of 2005. Back then, Krasair leased aircraft and equipment, then renegotiated the deal, leasing the equipment to third parties and leasing it again. If we take into account the special tax regime for leasing transactions (leasing payments are deducted from the income tax base), then the company could minimize tax contributions to the state treasury. It is also important that leased equipment depreciates faster than purchased equipment and, accordingly, loses in value. Consequently, payments for equipment leased twice are reduced. At the trial, a representative of the airline gave an example when Krasair leased engines from one company, transferred them to another, which equipped airplanes with these engines, and the airline leased the finished aircraft again. It turned out to be economical.
“Tax officials are always very suspicious of leasing operations,” a lawyer for one of the Moscow leasing companies explained to Vremya Novostey. -- They are often classified as imaginary leasing transactions. Indeed, there are examples when a “pocket” leasing company is created on the basis of one enterprise, which leases equipment to its parent company and then takes it back. As a result, tax authorities often regard leasing not as an acquisition of fixed assets, but as a tax reduction scheme.”
But Krasair’s lawyer convinced the court that the company did not even think about any fraud, but was simply looking after the interests of its own business. “There is nothing reprehensible in the fact that the contract is changed in favor of more favorable conditions,” he explained. “We did this not to reduce taxes, but to increase the term of the leasing agreement and reduce monthly payments.”
However, as it turned out in court, as a result of such complex relationships with partners, “incidents” arose. Thus, Valery Repin, who was listed as the founder of one of the Jet Flight leasing companies, with which Krasair collaborated, admitted to the tax authorities that this was the first time he had heard about this company. It’s a similar story with the general director of the Project City company, Arkady Temnov. During the check, it turned out that the men had previously simply lost their passports. “The signatures on the contracts are notarized,” responded the Krasair lawyer. - There was no doubt that these people were CEOs of companies. Moreover, we exercised a good conscience and reasonable caution.”