Samara plant temporarily resumed work

Samara Plant Rodnik LLC demands in court to invalidate the decision of the Federal Alcohol Regulatory Agency to suspend the enterprise’s license to produce alcoholic beverages. As part of the case, the arbitration court took interim measures, according to which, until a decision is made, the plant will be able to resume its work. The license was suspended following an inspection, during which “facts of illegal production of alcoholic beverages without special markings” were allegedly discovered at Rodnik. The parties do not comment on the process.

On March 27, the Samara Arbitration Court satisfied the claim of Samara Plant Rodnik LLC for interim measures. According to the court decision, Rosalkogolregulirovanie is obliged to temporarily renew the plant’s license to produce alcoholic beverages.

Let us remind you that on January 21 of this year, a comprehensive inspection of the Main Directorate of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption (GUEBiPK) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and Rosalkogolregulirovanie began at Rodnik. As part of it, more than 800 tons of ethyl alcohol, not accounted for in the Unified State Automated Information System (EGAIS), were discovered at the warehouse premises of Buyan LLC (considered affiliated with Rodnik - Kommersant).

Later, during an inspection of the plant's workshops and utility rooms in the building where the enterprise's security service is located, a secret door was discovered in a closet. Behind it there was a room where operatives found boxes with excise stamps intended both for the products of the plant itself and for alcoholic goods from other regions of the country. In total, according to the press service of the GUEBiPK Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, over 1.2 million excise taxes were seized.

All illegally produced products were withdrawn from circulation and transferred to the safekeeping of FSUE Rosspirtprom. According to preliminary estimates, the damage to the state in the form of unpaid excise duty exceeds 70 million rubles.

At the end of February this year, as part of the inspection, two criminal cases were initiated: under Part 1 of Art. 327.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Manufacture, sale of counterfeit excise stamps, special stamps or marks of conformity, or their use”) and under Part 1 of Art. 171.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Production, acquisition, storage, transportation or sale of unmarked goods and products”). A month later, Rosalkogolregulirovanie suspended Rodnik’s license to produce alcoholic beverages.

On March 26, the plant filed a claim with Samara arbitration to invalidate the relevant decision of the federal service. In addition, Rodnik demanded interim measures, namely the renewal of the license for the period until the court makes a decision on the case. In its lawsuit, Rodnik pointed out that the company has a number of obligations to supply its products to its counterparties. Failure to comply, according to Rodnik representatives, will lead to losses. In addition, the plant reported lost profits of 8 million rubles. The arbitration materials also state that due to the suspension of production at Rodnik, the federal and regional budgets may lose almost 4 billion rubles in excise duty and 30 million rubles in VAT. The plant intends to transfer this amount to the treasury based on the results of shipment of 7.9 million liters of alcoholic products in the period from March to September 2014. It was not possible to clarify yesterday what volume Rodnik estimates possible losses from failure to fulfill obligations to counterparties, and for what period the profit was not made: the company did not respond to Kommersant’s request yesterday.

The press service of Rosalkogolregulirovanie reported that they were aware of the court’s adoption of interim measures, but declined to comment until the case was considered on the merits.

Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Budget, Finance, Taxes, Economic and Investment Policy of the Samara Gubernia Duma Andrei Kislov, discussing the situation at Rodnik, notes that, of course, in such situations the goal should not be to close the enterprise, but to ensure that it complies current legislature. “In any case, when a company closes, it’s always bad for people because they lose their jobs,” says Mr. Kislov.

Ekaterina Vyushkova, Ekaterina Borisenkova

"Rodnik" returned the degree