"Olimpstroy" dismissed a significant part of the contractors' monetary claims, recognizing these demands as unfounded. The contractors no longer have a chance to challenge the refusal in court / Mikhail Mokrushin / RIA Novosti

The Sochi Olympics ended almost a year and a half ago, but construction workers across the country continue to sue not only each other, but also the state corporation Olimpstroy, which managed the construction, despite the fact that it no longer exists: in mid-2014, President Vladimir Putin signed a law on its liquidation, and on March 20, 2015, an entry about this was made in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. It seemed that on the eve of liquidation, Olimpstroy forgave billions in debts by filing petitions to drop the lawsuits. All lawsuits that were not completed at the time of liquidation are terminated, since, according to the law, Olimpstroy has no successors, government officials explained at the time. In fact, the corporation did not forgive anyone for nothing, Vedomosti found out.

The claims are not on point

In 2014, Olimpstroy estimated the total cost of hosting the Olympic Games, including related infrastructure construction, at more than 1.5 trillion rubles, with the bulk of these funds spent by the state and state-owned companies. The Olympic facilities themselves and hosting the Games, as reported by the Accounts Chamber, cost 324.9 billion rubles. The government allocated 211.6 billion rubles from the budget to Olimpstroy, which was created in 2007, for the construction of Olympic facilities. After completing the work, the corporation returned about 45 billion rubles to the budget, a person close to the management of Olimpstroy told Vedomosti. A government official confirmed this amount. This is a unique case, he replied: usually, for large construction projects, the budget had to pay extra for a long time after their completion. How did the state corporation manage to set a record for savings?

Chain reaction

Many construction companies have still not received money for subcontracted work on Olympic construction sites and are trying to recover it in court, according to data from the arbitration case file. “Such situations are not uncommon. I don’t know whether this is due to the fact that contractors were dissatisfied with the settlements with Olimpstroy, or is explained by other reasons, but one way or another they refuse to pay under various pretexts,” says Mikhail Aleksandrov, a partner at the A2 law firm. As an example, he cites the case of one of his clients, the Intertransstroy production association. Since 2012, it has been trying to recover 86 million rubles from the contractor, a large construction company, Glavstroygrupp, for work on the construction of an ice arena where short track competitions were held. This is 5% of the total cost of the subcontract for the installation of the building’s façade, which looks like a glass iceberg. Glavstroygroup is a regular partner of one of the main builders of Olympic facilities, Ingeokom, which acted as the general contractor for the stadium construction. Intertransstroy installed about 40,000 square meters of the façade, signed all the documents on the delivery of the work with the customer by November 2012, and after that, for two months, was unable to receive the rest of the money that had previously been held as a guarantee, according to the case materials. And in the middle of last year, the subcontractor received claims regarding the quality of the work performed. The deficiencies were revealed during operation, and an expert examination confirmed them, according to the court materials. “Despite the fact that the stadium project is listed as successful on the Ingeokom website and we have all the documents confirming the quality of the work and the absence of claims against them from the company currently operating the stadium, the courts of first and second instance refused to satisfy the subcontractor’s demands and collect the money, and only the cassation court on May 19 ruled in our favor,” says Aleksandrov. It was not possible to contact a representative of Glavstroygroup.

The savings were mainly achieved by optimizing design technical solutions and effective control over the cost of materials and other resources supplied to the Olympic facilities. In addition, the corporation was actively pursuing claims and lawsuits on disagreements that arose during the implementation of projects, says a person close to Olimpstroy. The liquidation commission, as required by law, included all the counterparties' demands in the interim liquidation balance sheet - it turned out to be more than 15 billion rubles. The corporation reserved this amount of funds in case it lost the courts on the claims, he continues. "When they brought us a claim, we always said: justify it, let's calculate. We have never taken the position of a stern older brother in relations with contractors, we have looked into each case very carefully, but it often turned out that the claims were unfounded - the contractor pulled figures out of thin air, decided to shift his technical or paperwork calculations onto us, etc. But we have always firmly said that we will save budget money and will not pay extra," he explains. As a result, the contractors were able to substantiate only a small part of the claims in court, and the bulk of the reserved amount was returned to the budget, explains the interlocutor of Vedomosti.

During the construction of the Olympic facilities, disagreements often arose between Olimpstroy and its contractors: contractors complained that due to imperfect design documentation, construction was costing more than indicated in the contract. The peak of the conflicts occurred in 2013: according to the SPARK database, Olimpstroy filed claims for the recovery of 51 billion rubles, while 62.4 billion rubles were demanded from it (for more details, see the table). True, proceedings in a significant number of these cases were closed. Nevertheless, in 2015, Olimpstroy participated in cases to recover approximately 30 billion rubles in penalties and fines from contractors in the Moscow Arbitration Court and the Krasnodar Territory Arbitration Court alone. The contractors themselves tried to collect at least 15 billion rubles from him, but most of them lost their chances to get the money: since March, the courts began to close proceedings in cases related to the liquidation of Olimpstroy - both with the consent of the parties and with the objections of the state corporation's counterparties. One of them, OOO Rekordfinansgrupp, tried to prohibit the recording of the liquidation of the state corporation through the court, but was refused.

Peaceful solution

With the approval of the state commission, the corporation concluded agreements to settle claims with most of its counterparties, says a person close to Olimpstroy. We are talking about the so-called two-millionaires – state structures or companies that accrued penalties for late performance of Olympic contracts under their contract with Olimpstroy. After the parties reached an agreement, Olimpstroy withdrew its claims, explains Vedomosti's source.

In 2012, when it became obvious that the Olympic construction was stalling, at the instigation of the government, Olympstroy concluded additional agreements with investors and general contractors, setting the penalty at 2 million rubles for each day of delay in the delivery of facilities, recalls a government official. As a result, some major contractors, including government agencies and budget organizations, were charged very large amounts of penalties. But in the end, the state commission, with the participation of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development, agreed that it was not worth collecting these debts in full - this would effectively be shifting budget funds from one pocket to another, so they limited themselves to paying part of the penalty, he says. According to him, it was a matter of several percent of the amount of claims. But such agreements were only possible for projects that were successfully completed - with good quality and without serious disruptions to overall deadlines, he explains.

According to the courts, Olimpstroy dropped its claims against the Sochi administration for 11 billion rubles and against the Krasnodar Territory administration for 7.9 billion rubles. They dropped their counterclaims. The city authorities and the Krasnodar Territory administration supervised the implementation of many infrastructure projects in Sochi.

Agreements on payment of part of the amounts of penalties were reached, in particular, with Gazprom and the Bazel Group, says a source close to Olimpstroy. For example, Gazprom paid "quite a high percentage for this type of agreement," he adds. Gazprom and its structures built gas pipelines, the Adler Thermal Power Plant, and the facilities of the mountain Olympic village for the Olympics. The court database contains Olimpstroy's claims against them for 4.4 billion rubles, which have now been withdrawn. Gazprom and its structures had counter-claims for billions of rubles against the corporation, but the concern dropped them. The gas company agreed to pay Olimpstroy 5% of the amount of the claims, says an employee of one of the concern's subsidiaries. A government official confirms this. A Gazprom representative did not respond to questions about the dispute with Olimpstroy.

With whom did Olympstroy make peace?

According to Vedomosti, the curator of Olympic construction in Sochi this year withdrew legal claims worth more than 20 billion rubles. These included large claims against government agencies and budget organizations of various levels, as well as major contractors. Thus, Olimpstroy withdrew claims for 11 billion rubles against the Sochi administration (pictured above, left), claims against Gazprom for 3.3 billion rubles, and claims against Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element structures. Gazprom built the Dzhubga-Lazarevskoye-Sochi gas pipeline (pictured on the right), the Adler Thermal Power Plant, biathlon and ski stadiums, and the mountain Olympic village. Basic Element structures built the first stage of protective structures in the Imeretinskaya Lowland, and acted as investors and customers for the Olympic village in the Imeretinskaya Lowland and residential complexes for journalists and volunteers. The legal claims were withdrawn because the parties entered into agreements, under most of which Olimpstroy's counterparties paid compensation - several percent of the amount of the claims, a government official told Vedomosti and people close to the parties to the agreement confirmed.

The court file contains claims by Olimpstroy against ZAO Engineering Corporation Transstroy and Rogsibal, which built engineering protection facilities and the Olympic village in Sochi. In 2014, Bazel announced its withdrawal from Transstroy. Bazel paid Olimpstroy part of the fines for delays in completing the facilities and withdrew its claims, a person close to Oleg Deripaska's holding company reported.

“Some contractors, like us, refused to make demands on Olimpstroy because the government told us not to stick to our principles here, we will let you earn money on other projects – we were promised contracts in Chechnya,” says an employee of one of the construction companies.

The companies were not promised any other projects, counters one of the officials who oversaw the Olympic construction.

Construction with continuation

The contractors do not agree that they suffered because of their own miscalculations. "We all came out of this construction site covered in scars," one of the Olympic contractors is emotional. "Olimpstroy did not sign the documents on acceptance of the work, did not pay for it, the case on our company's claim for recovery of money was closed due to the liquidation of the corporation, and Olimpstroy is demanding a penalty from us, it transferred our debt to the Sochi administration." Judging by the court database, several companies found themselves in this situation.

The Sochi administration is trying to become the procedural successor of Olimpstroy in cases to recover 455 million rubles of unaccounted advance payment from Yugproektstroimontazh LLC (UPSM), 273 million rubles of penalties from Sochi-Plaza LLC, 132 million rubles from Mol Morstroy CJSC, 120 million rubles of unpaid advance payment and penalties from ISK Slavoblast LLC, etc. Olimpstroy notified the court that in March it had gratuitously assigned the right to claim in these cases to the Sochi administration under an assignment agreement. Under the agreement, no other rights and obligations are transferred to the assignee.

On May 19, the Arbitration Court of Krasnodar Krai granted the motion to replace the claimant with the Sochi administration in the case of recovery of a penalty from the ISK Slavoblast.

However, not all courts agree with the proposal to recognize the Sochi administration as a plaintiff in the claims of Olimpstroy. For example, the Moscow Arbitration Court refused to assign Olimpstroy's rights of claim to YUPSM, considering the assignment agreement null and void. Olimpstroy's property could only be transferred free of charge to federal ownership, not to municipal ownership; in other cases, the property of the liquidated organization must be sold at auction, the court ruling states. The Sochi administration is challenging this decision.

What Olimpstroy has refused

The state corporation has recognized the futile attempt to collect debts from several bankrupt contractors of Olympic facilities, since there is no chance of getting the money – the bankrupts’ assets are not enough even to pay off the first-priority debts, a person close to the corporation explained. First of all, this concerns the claims against Efim Basin’s Inzhtransstroy, which carried out general contracts for the construction of roads in Krasnaya Polyana, engineering facilities in the Imeretinskaya Lowland and a biathlon track, and also built a media center and hotel complex in Sochi. When Inzhtransstroy began work on the Olympic facilities, the controlling stake in it was bought out by structures of Arkady Rotenberg, but in 2013 they left the company. Soon after the end of the Sochi Games, Inzhtransstroy announced its liquidation. In court, Olimpstroy demanded a penalty of 273 million rubles from Inzhtransstroy. This year, the case on the claim was dismissed. But Olimpstroy settled claims against another major Olympic contractor, NPO Mostovik, before the bankruptcy of this organization. Mostovik was responsible as the general contractor for the construction of the bobsleigh and luge complex in Krasnaya Polyana, the engineering protection of the Imeretinskaya Lowland and the mountain cluster, and also acted as an investor in four hotel complexes.

Usually, courts approach the issue of procedural succession formally, satisfying petitions without looking, says Mark Karetin, a lawyer at Yukov and Partners. The conclusions of the Moscow Arbitration Court seem very logical. It can be assumed that the defendants will use this definition in other disputes with the Sochi administration regarding the transfer of Olimpstroy's rights of claim, he reasons.

Several managers of the defendant companies that Vedomosti managed to contact did not want to comment on the situation. But it is clear from the court documents that they all have counterclaims against Olimpstroy – and the court has already rejected most of them, citing the liquidation of the corporation.

For example, YUPSM, which built utility lines in the Imeretinskaya Lowland and Krasnaya Polyana, and improved the embankment of the Olympic Park, demanded 2.8 billion rubles from Olimpstroy. The state corporation had many complaints about this company – both about quality and about the terms of fulfillment of contractual obligations, said a former employee of Olimpstroy.

Mol Morstroy, which was strengthening the embankment, was demanding almost 1 billion rubles from Olimpstroy, while Sochi Plaza, which was building the Courtyard by Marriott hotel, wanted to receive 291 million rubles for the work performed. In addition, Sochi Plaza claimed that it was unable to open the hotel for the Games because Olimpstroy had not provided the site with utilities on time.

ISK Slavoblast, which acted as an investor in the curling arena, refuses to pay for part of the work performed with the consent of Olimpstroy, which managed the construction. The investor demands that what was built without his consent, for example, an extra utility area near the palace, be demolished, according to court documents. Olimpstroy demanded payment for the work performed.

"Olimpstroy" transferred to the Sochi administration a part of the accounts receivable that it did not manage to collect. "This is a small part of the total liabilities, not exceeding 1 billion rubles, mainly for long-term projects related to the life of the city, and it is logical to expect that now the city authorities will demand fulfillment of the obligations on them," says a source close to "Olimpstroy" to Vedomosti.

A representative of the Sochi administration was unable to comment on the issue of transferred debts.

"Olimpstroy" acted according to the principle "I forgive everyone to whom I owe, and what is owed to me, please return to my legal successors," sadly jokes a top manager of one of the organizations from which they are now trying to collect more than 100 million rubles. "We believe that it is illegal to transfer only the rights without transferring counter obligations, we did not have time to collect anything," says another contractor.

Who did Olympstroy not make peace with?

The Sochi administration will continue to collect about 1 billion rubles from Olympic contractors: in March of this year, Olimpstroy transferred to it the right to claim some debts free of charge. Among the largest transferred claims, judging by the court materials, is the collection of almost 454 million rubles in unaccounted advance payment from the company Yugproektstroimontazh from Karachay-Cherkessia, which created utility lines and developed the embankment near the Olympic Park. The Sochi administration is trying to collect a penalty of 273 million rubles from the Sochi Plaza company, which did not manage to complete the Courtyard by Marriott hotel on the site of the old Sochi Hotel Moskva in time for the 2014 Games. Olimpstroy also transferred to the city the right to collect an advance payment and a penalty of 132 million rubles from Mol Morstroy CJSC, which built protective structures in the Imeretinskaya Lowland, 120 million rubles. unaccounted advance payment and penalties from ISK Slavoblast, which was the investor in the ice palace for curling, 16 million rubles from the company Vector-2000, which built treatment facilities in Sochi.

"A number of negligent contractors complain that now, after the liquidation of Olimpstroy, they have lost hope of proving their case in court: the proceedings are being terminated. The two and a half years that have passed since the completion of work on the Olympic facilities until the liquidation of Olimpstroy are quite enough time for any effectively operating company to bring the case to an end in court," a person close to Olimpstroy objects. In our country, legal disputes sometimes last longer, says Karetin from Yukov and Partners. But Olimpstroy, according to the law, worked in a very special legal situation: according to general legislation, a company cannot be liquidated without considering the claims of creditors, and the law on Olimpstroy expressly stated that the company cannot be declared bankrupt or its property subject to foreclosure, recalls Karetin.

The government does not see anything strange in the transfer of Olympic debts to the Sochi administration. According to federal law, Olimpstroy has no legal successors; we are talking about the assignment of the right to claim a number of contracts, the implementation of which was carried out in the city of Sochi, and the administration has the ability and desire to demand their implementation, explained Ilya Dzhus, a representative of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, who supervised preparations for the Olympics. He does not comment on specific figures.

Those Olympic construction contractors who had justified claims received money. Others were able to settle claims on adequate terms. And those who wanted to earn too much, close the cash gap or simply due to their own carelessness incorrectly filled out the documentation, will work more effectively next time: budget construction is not a charity project where money is just handed out, sums up one of the officials who supervised the Olympics.

Bela Lauv participated in the preparation of the article

"Olimpstroy" is dying, but not giving up