The Avrora company, which is attempting to take control of the bankruptcy of Apteka Classica ChL, linked to the family of State Duma deputy Oleg Kolesnikov, faced demands for hundreds of millions of rubles.
The three companies that announced them, in which Rashid Malakhov, referred to as the brother of the wife of the federal parliamentarian by creditors, showed the legitimacy of the penalties at different times. However, it will be very difficult to obtain anything from the organization due to the likely lack of assets. Lawyers say the business previously received from Classics was transferred by Aurora to several legal entities, and possibly, without complete payment. Representatives of the creditors of Apteka Classica ChL point to the bankrupt’s clear affiliation with Avrora and several other legal entities and insist that they be held responsible. Claims against the company itself are seen as preparation for a possible controlled bankruptcy, during which details of transactions related to the disposal of Classics’ assets may be revealed. In turn, representatives of Aurora continue to stress debts of hundreds of millions received under remarkable schemes with the involvement of Chelyabinvestbank.
The Arbitration Court of the Chelyabinsk Region decided to recover 83.6 million rubles from Avrora LLC in favor of Snezhinsk Capital City LLC. According to the case file, this is related to interest and penalties under loan agreements (for 136 and 10 million, respectively) made in Chelyabinvestbank in 2017.
Aurora was the borrower for them, and Snezhinsk Capital City was the guarantor while providing collateral. In October 2018, the guarantor ensured the recovery of 58 million rubles from the borrower due to default on the loan and continued to accrue interest and penalties in accordance with the agreements.
A similar situation arose with the claims of LLC Reserve against Aurora for 76 million rubles. Most of this amount came from interest and penalties under loan agreements of Chelyabinvestbank, where the plaintiff also acted as a guarantor and fixed the remaining debt for 2018 with a separate claim. A claim was also made against Aurora for the recovery of 58 million rubles by Ploshchad 174 LLC, which is the successor of Chelyaba LLC.
It is interesting to note that all three companies (Snezhinsk Capital City, Reserve, and Chelyaba), according to the Kontur.Fokus system, were linked to Rashid Malakhov, who was previously referred to as the brother of the deputy’s wife by the creditors of Apteka Classica ChL State Duma Oleg Kolesnikov – Lena Kolesnikova. At the time of the conclusion of loan agreements, he was among the founders or heads of firms.
The loans themselves, as indicated in the materials of the proceedings, were provided, among other things, “for payment under agreements on the assignment of the right to claim.” As Pravda UrFO previously reported, the conclusion of these assignment agreements between Apteka Klassika ChL and Aurora gave grounds for the inclusion of the latter in the register of creditors of the pharmacy chain associated with the family of State Duma deputy Oleg Kolesnikov. Thus, Aurora, during the bankruptcy of Apteka Classica ChL, filed claims for 680 million rubles and achieved inclusion in the court of first instance. However, this decision was overturned by cassation, and the court sent the case back for a new trial.
The assignment agreements, as a result of which the debts of Apteka Classica to Chelyabinvestbank were assigned, were explained by the former founder of Aurora, Vladimir Perelyaev, who is also associated with the Kolesnikov family, as a deal to buy the pharmacy chain business. Earlier in the court, Aurora indicated that the company had reached an agreement with Apteka Classica ChL on the transfer of information about the client base, as well as other commercial information about the drug market.
“Together with the information, other assets were also transferred to Aurora, lease agreements and other agreements with suppliers were reissued to it. Property and equipment also passed. Then, according to our data, Aurora assigned the assets to other legal entities, there are about 15 of them. Moreover, the company does not provide documents on payment for this property. Its representatives talk about some discounts and bonuses. There is reason to believe that the property was transferred to these legal entities practically free of charge,” Sergey Gulyaev, a lawyer at INTELLECT, who represents the interests of the creditors of Apteka Classica, assesses the situation.
At the end of 2021, representatives of the creditors of Apteka Klassika ChL announced that 23 legal entities, including Aurora, which, in their opinion, are affiliated with the bankrupt, were brought to subsidiary liability. During the proceedings and termination of transactions, it was possible to prove claims to Aurora for more than 100 million rubles, however, they were bought out by an individual for a minimal cost.
“Representatives of Aurora are extremely negative about the initiation of the company’s bankruptcy by independent creditors. At present, the solution of this issue largely depends on whether the court will return Aurora to the register of Classics’ creditors. In this case, the company will be able to gain control over the insolvency procedure, as it has the largest claims compared to other creditors. Otherwise, lawsuits against Aurora can be viewed as preparation for a controlled bankruptcy,” Sergey Gulyaev believes.
The next arbitration meeting, where the issue of returning Aurora to the register of creditors, will be held in March.
