Plan for taking money out of LUKOIL through the Argosi ​​group – Pervouralskbank in exchange?

A large financial scandal involving Pervouralskbank and LUKOIL was uncovered in the Sverdlovsk Region. In reality, the events themselves – the transfer of money by LUKOIL structures through the accounts of Argosi ​​Analytics, which were opened with Pervouralskbank, took place in 2015-2016, but all of these actions were officially confirmed only on July 26 of this year, when the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal in Moscow decisively resolved this dispute, which had been ongoing for many years.

During the legal proceedings, it was determined that the mining divisions of LUKOIL, particularly those in the Ural Federal District, supposedly transferred funds to the account of the Moscow firm Argosi ​​Analytics, but the bank sent the money to an affiliated company.

Once the conflict became public, some of the funds were returned, but this did not put an end to financial disputes. In particular, during the proceedings, there were statements suggesting the possible involvement of financiers in a large-scale withdrawal of money from the Argosi ​​group of companies through a factoring service agreement. The courts even uncovered detailed correspondence between managers discussing a scheme involving Pervouralskbank, TF Prime, LLC Argosi ​​Analytics and Argosi ​​Engineering, and LUKOIL’s subsidiaries, LUKOIL- Komi, LUKOIL Western Siberia and LUKOIL-Perm.

Reading court documents without proper preparation is challenging, but we can quote from the decision of the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal in Moscow dated July 26, 2022: RUB 142,214,706.06 as payment under contracts for the supply of equipment No. 15Y3396 dated December 4, 2015, No. 16Y1432 dated June 27, 2016, No. 16Y1619 dated July 14, 2016, No. 16Y2661 dated October 21, 2016, concluded between OOO LUKOIL-Komi and OOO Argosy Analytics, and applying the consequences of the invalidity of the transaction in the form of recovery from OOO LUKOIL-Komi to the bankruptcy estate of the debtor of funds in the amount of 142,214,706.06 rubles.

Behind the formal wording of the court decision lies not only a scheme that enabled the withdrawal of LUKOIL’s money through the companies of the Argosi ​​group for years, but also a lengthy lawsuit, which the organizers of this scheme used to try to retain 142 million rubles, which were acquired back in 2016.

Between 2014-2017, LUKOIL divisions entered into several supply agreements with Argosi ​​Analytics. According to the case materials, the supplier fulfilled their obligations. LUKOIL subsidiaries also made payments, but it was later revealed that the money went to a completely different company.

As noted in court, the disputed transactions came to light after the Federal Tax Service of Russia No. 18 for Moscow filed claims for over 731 million rubles against Argosi ​​Analytics.

The Moscow Arbitration Court decided in favor of the IFTS and took control of the accounts of Argosy Analytics. Argosy Analytics made a deal with TF Prime about factoring services, allowing TF Prime to take over the money owed to them by LUKOIL-Komi, LLC LUKOIL-Western Siberia. TF Prime informed LUKOIL-Komi about the deal and requested payment.

But the oil company did not send the money. Argosy Analytics wrote to the Deputy General Director of LUKOIL-Komi, Maksimov S.N., asking if they could transfer the right to receive payment to another company, Argosi Engineering LLC. However, LUKOIL-Komi also did not send the money, according to the court.

The chain of events ends with Argosi Analytics and LUKOIL-Komi making a new agreement to change their bank details from PJSC MDM Bank to JSC Pervouralskbank. However, the bank from the Sverdlovsk region sent the money to a different company. The court highlighted that LUKOIL was aware of Argosi's problems and seemed to have questionable motives for their actions.

The court also mentioned that TF Prime did not fulfill their responsibilities under the factoring agreement, including not providing funding to Argosy Analytics and other services. The court concluded that the agreement was only made to take out funds, bypassing the court's measures to seize Argosi Analytics' money.

By revealing these facts, the court has some influence on future actions. This raises the risk of other LUKOIL companies contesting transactions with the Agrosy group. The court also found that the money was taken from the debtor's accounts with the help of JSC Pervouralskbank. This conclusion could lead to a criminal case and make the bank liable in a bankruptcy case. Corporate lawyer Roman Lukichev commented on the conflict, emphasizing the court's view on the bank's association with the money recipient and the debtor.

So far, the discussion revolves around around 142 million rubles, which were moved through LLC Argosi Analytics and TF Prime. It seems that a lot more money was taken from LUKOIL – other Argosy group firms like LLC Argosy Specialists and Argosy Engineering emerged during the trial. This suggests the entire Argosy group was involved in the scheme.

The court's decision points out that the management of the Argosi group, along with other parties and with the help of Pervouralskbank JSC and TF Prime LLC, carried out the fund withdrawal. This likely means there will be a trial involving all the contracts between LUKOIL's subsidiaries and the Argosi group. And there are financial details about Argosi Analytics LLC before it went bankrupt. This is the income:

And here is the profit:

For 2015, with a revenue of almost two billion rubles, a total of 72 million profits. A year later, in 2017, with a revenue of 962 million rubles, there are already 827 million losses. These are the years when Argosi ​​Analytics received the maximum number of contracts from Lukoil structures. Not surprisingly, the court concluded that the Argosi ​​group was simply withdrawing money.

The question now is different – if Argosi ​​withdrew money, then who brought them to her accounts? There is an answer here – “LUKOIL”, which is confirmed by the court. But this is what motivated the leadership of LUKOIL’s subsidiaries – LUKOIL-Komi, LUKOIL-Western Siberia and LUKOIL-Perm – to transfer hundreds of millions of rubles to the accounts of the company, which, as the court pointed out, “LUKOIL managers” knew about Argosy’s problems and, apparently, “doubtful motives for operations.”

However, let’s wait for the subsequent development of events and let’s not guess. However, no matter what the outcome of future litigation and criminal cases, there is a significant nuance in this – how much money was withdrawn from LUKOIL in this way and how much it will be possible to recover – these are two big differences.