One of the creditors of the Centrobuv chain, Gazprombank, turned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a request to check the legality of the activities of the owners and management of the retailer. The bank suspected them of withdrawing funds provided under the credit line

Store of the Centrobuv chain (Photo: PhotoXPress)

Gazprombank appealed to the head of the capital department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for combating economic crimes and combating corruption, Major General Sergei Solopov, with a request to assess the financial activities of the beneficiaries and management of JSC TD Centrobuv, Kommersant reports .

The statement, a copy of which is available to the publication, says that in 2013–2014 the bank entered into an agreement to open a credit line with Centro LLC and JSC TD Centrobuv to finance business activities.

To ensure the return of funds, the borrowers provided the bank with guarantees for each other. After the expiration of the refund period this year, the companies incurred a debt to Gazprombank of 8.6 billion rubles. From the text of the statement it follows that Gazprombank suspects the management of Centrobuv of withdrawing funds, the publication reports.

According to Kommersant sources, Gazprombank counted 12 transactions, the legality of which was questioned. Lawyer Trofim Popov, representing the bank, confirmed that his client “has questions” to the owners and management of the retailer regarding a number of transactions and financial transactions, including with GPB loan funds. “We ask you to check whether they were fictitious,” he noted.

The lawyer believes that the transactions could have significantly affected the financial position of Centro and the Centrobuv Trading House, “which resulted in the inability of the borrowing companies to meet their loan obligations.” The statement mentions one of the owners of Centrobuv, Sergei Lomakin, who is named as the controlling shareholder, the publication notes.

On April 4, the Moscow Arbitration Court introduced a monitoring procedure against the company due to debts . The main applicants were Sandorini and the Moscow Credit Bank (MCB), the bankruptcy hearing is scheduled for September 6, 2016.

Co-owner of the shoe chain Dmitry Svetlov told Kommersant then that the company’s management had not yet determined its strategy after the introduction of surveillance. He noted that negotiations on debt restructuring are ongoing.

The creditor suspected the management of Centrobuv of withdrawing funds