AP VAKS has resumed criminal proceedings involving Oshchadbank and Creative.
On November 24, 2022, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court of Appeal (AP VAKS) accepted the appeal from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) and overturned the decision of the High Anti-Corruption Court (VAKS) from August 22, 2026 regarding report 002, stating that the pre-trial investigation period had expired, as reported by Finbalance.
AP VAKS disagreed with VAKS's conclusions and forwarded the materials of this criminal proceeding to VAKS to conduct court proceedings during the preparatory stage.
According to court materials, the subject of pre-trial investigation in this criminal proceeding is the potential illegal actions of Oschadbank officials when providing loans to the group of companies “Creativ”, which resulted in a debt to the state bank of about UAH 6.7 billion, and Sberbank employees did not respond with claims or litigation.
During the pre-trial investigation of this incident, signs of other possible criminal offenses (part 3 of article .209, part 5 of article 191, part 1 of article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) were identified.
As NABU and SAPO reported, on September 2, 2021, an indictment against 12 people was sent to the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court in the case of misappropriation of $20 million from Oschadbank.
The defendants include the former director of the corporate business department of Oschadbank; former head of the bank's project finance department; former head of the project finance department of Sberbank; former beneficiaries of the group of companies “Creativ”; several ex-officials and officials of enterprises within this group of companies, as well as an appraiser.
The investigation revealed that from 2013 to 2015, private enterprise officials within the Creative group, in collusion with Oschadbank JSC officials, fraudulently obtained a $20 million loan from the state bank, allegedly for the purchase of sunflower seeds.
After obtaining the funds, the owners of the Creative group transferred the money abroad to their controlled companies' accounts in Belize and Switzerland. Subsequently, the same funds were used to purchase corporate rights of legal entities owning valuable real estate.
On 09/27/2019, NABU and SAP suspected ex-MP Stanislav Berezkin, who was also the beneficial owner of the companies in the Creative group and allegedly the mastermind behind a corrupt scheme to embezzle funds from Oschadbank. The case against the former MP was closed due to his death.
In October 2018, law enforcement officers arrested Irina Zemtsova, the deputy head of Sberbank as part of this case (she was later relieved of her duties in February-March 2021).
In March 2016, the former head of the board of Sberbank (now the head of the NBU) Andrey Pyshny mentioned that the total debt of “Creative” to Sberbank exceeds 300 million dollars. The banker did not exclude that “there will be a part of the debt that is not covered by collateral” (quote).
In November 2020, Ukreximbank announced that the Creative group owed UAH 4.6 billion to it.
In 2016, Risbek Toktomushev, a person from BTA Bank, and Artur Grants (who was also connected with Andrei Ivanchuk and Leonid Yurushev) revealed the purchase of the Creative agricultural holding from the Berezkin family.
PJSC “Kreativ” was declared bankrupt by the decision of the Economic Court of Kyiv on 04/16/2018 (left unchanged by the decision of the Kyiv Economic Court of Appeal of Kyiv on 06/19/2018 and the decision of the Supreme Court on 10/09/2018). The court stated that the debts of the debtor (UAH 19.4 billion) are much more than the assets (UAH 33.4 million), and “the debtor's property is not enough to pay off all accounts payable.”
14.06.2017 Economic Court Kyiv approved the register of creditors’ claims, and on March 11, 2019, supplemented it (among the creditors of PJSC “Kreativ” there are many Western banks).
01/18/2021 The Economic Court of Kyiv, within the framework of case No. 910/9131/16 on the bankruptcy of PJSC “Creativ”, made changes to the register of creditors' claims regarding Oschadbank's claims, approving them in a new amount – UAH 2.96 billion (fourth stage); UAH 683.6 million (sixth stage); UAH 6.62 billion (secured by a pledge of the debtor's property).
According to court materials, during the liquidation of PJSC “Creativ”, part of its debt to Oschadbank (for UAH 733 million) was paid off using the pledged property of third parties, which led to a decrease in the requirements of the state bank to PJSC “Creativ” in the fourth stage from UAH 3.7 billion to UAH 2.96 billion (it should be understood that this happened, among other things, as a result of the aforementioned sale of the Ellada PE plant).</p
As Finbalance wrote, on March 17, 2021, the Economic Court of Kyiv approved the liquidation balance sheet of Creative Group PJSC and decided to dissolve this company as a legal entity due to bankruptcy (case No. 910/4139/18).
PJSC « Creative Group” was declared bankrupt by the decision of this court on May 30, 2018.
In July-September 2018, the court recognized PJSC “Creative Group” as creditors, including the following structures:
— Sberbank — UAH 6.3 billion (as secured by a pledge of the debtor’s property);
— UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, a.s. — by UAH 261.6 million (of which UAH 255 million are fourth stage claims);
— UniCredit Bank AG (Germany) — UAH 223.4 million (of which UAH 223.4 million are fourth stage);
— Raiffeisenbank a.s. — UAH 40 million (of which UAH 33.9 million is the fourth stage);
— Agrarian Investments 2012 LLC — UAH 116.4 million (fourth stage), etc.
According to court materials, the total accounts payable of Creative Group PJSC is UAH 6.96 billion.
As noted, funds in the amount of UAH 33.7 thousand were received from the sale of the debtor's property.
The funds received were used to pay the liquidator's main remuneration and pay for banking services. The creditors' claims were not repaid due to insufficient funds.
According to Part 7 of Art. 64 of the Code of Ukraine on Bankruptcy Procedures, claims not repaid due to insufficient property are considered repaid.
The liquidator of the bankrupt did not go to court to make officials and other persons responsible for the bankruptcy because there were no signs of actions to cause the bankruptcy, as stated in the Economic Court of Kyiv decision dated 17.03.2021.
OJSC “Creativ Group” owns 100% of the shares of PrJSC “Creativ”, and Sberbank has a pledge over 25% of the shares.
During court case No. 912/2980/16, a forensic examination found that the shares of PJSC “Creativ” were worth 0 (zero) hryvnia when Sberbank tried to foreclose them from the debtor.
On 26.04.2021, the Economic Court of Kyiv approved the liquidation balance sheet of Plant of Modified Fats LLC and confirmed the bankruptcy (case No. 910/902/17).
Creditor claims totaling UAH 7.54 billion remained unpaid after the liquidation procedure, with Ukreximbank claiming UAH 4.51 billion, Oschadbank UAH 2.94 billion, and PrJSC “Kreativ” UAH 89.9 million.
“In accordance with the provisions of Part 7 of Art. . 64 of the Code of Ukraine on bankruptcy procedures, claims that have not been paid due to insufficiency of property are considered settled,” the court ruling of 04/26/2021 said.
The Economic Court of Kyiv declared Zavod Modified Fats LLC bankrupt on February 7, 2018.
During the liquidation procedure, the liquidator found that the bankrupt had property assets worth UAH 151.8 million, of which UAH 131 million was accounts receivable and UAH 20.8 million was fixed assets.
The liquidator formed a liquidation estate of UAH 38 million from the debtor's property assets to partially repay creditors' claims and cover the liquidation procedure costs.
As mentioned earlier, creditors' claims of UAH 7.54 billion remained outstanding.
The court ruling dated 04/26/2021 stated that the liquidator did not find legal grounds to hold the bankrupt's officials responsible for the bankruptcy of Plant of Modified Fats LLC.
The Economic Court of Kyiv approved the liquidation balance sheet and dissolved private enterprise “Ellada” on 03/25/2021, as reported by Finbalance.
The company was declared bankrupt in January 2018, and the court acknowledged creditor claims from Oschadbank, Ukreximbank, Plant of Modified Fats LLC, PrJSC “Kreativ”, Office of Large Taxpayers of the State Fiscal Service, and Sistema SSB Corporation.
The Economic Court of Kyiv noted in its ruling dated March 25, 2021, that the creditors’ claims recognized by the court were not satisfied because the liquidator did not identify enough property assets to pay them off, and according to the Code of Ukraine on Bankruptcy Procedures, claims not repaid due to insufficient property are considered repaid.
According to Finbalance, on 04.12.2019, the Antimonopoly Committee approved Pridneprovsky Oil Extraction Plant LLC (from Andrey Verevsky’s Kernel group) to take over a plant for processing sunflower seeds and oil production, which belonged to Ellada PE: Kropivnitsky, Ave. Industrial, 14a.
An auction for the sale of the mentioned plant was held on November 26, 2019, by the liquidator of the Hellas PE. The sale price was UAH 499.9 million. The sale of the asset took place with the agreement of Oschadbank (as a secured creditor). The State Bank then agreed on a price of UAH 495 million for the corresponding auction, even though Sberbank set the price at UAH 9.2 billion during previous attempts to sell the asset.
As reported by Finbalance, on February 11, 2021, the Economic Court of the Kyiv Region ruled in favor of Ukreximbank in case No. 911/107/16 and ordered the defendant to pay back UAH 526.8 million in debt under several loan agreements.
Yagotinsky Grain Receiving Enterprise acted as the guarantor of Kreativ PJSC according to court documents.
On 04/28/2021, the Economic Court of the Kyiv Region granted Ukreximbank's claim against the Yagotinsky Grain Receiving Enterprise (on the case No. 911/3997/16) and decided to foreclose PJSC “Kreativ” under several loan agreements in order to repay the debt, including:
– a property complex with an area of 19,428.70 sq. m, located at the address: Kyiv region, Yagotinsky district, Yagotin, st. Privokzalnaya, 21;
– a grain-receiving enterprise with an area of 7,090.3 sq.m, located at the address: Kyiv region, Zgurovsky district, town. Zgurovka, st. Komsomolskaya, 15;
– equipment located in the premises of ODO “Yagotinsky Grain Receiving Enterprise” at the specified addresses.
The court decision stated that the property under mortgage and pledge will be sold at public auction within the framework of enforcement proceedings, at a value not lower than the usual prices based on the assessment, conducted sub-appraisal activities, or an independent expert at the property valuation stage during enforcement actions.
Ukreximbank revealed that the Supreme Court requires the cancellation of the sale for UAH 51 million of the Protein Production plant for processing soybeans in the Kirovograd region, pledged to the state bank as security for the debt of the Creative group. According to Ukreximbank, the corresponding auction for the sale of the plant took place in September 2019 without the consent of the bank as a secured creditor and at a significantly lower price of UAH 51 million compared to the market valuation of UAH 700 million.
15.04.2021 Okruzhny The administrative court of Kyiv granted the claim of the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Kyiv against PJSC “Kreativ” and ordered the recovery of UAH 209 million tax debt from all the company's bank accounts (case No. 826/19378/16).
According to court materials, the tax authorities noted that as of January 15, 2021, the amount of the tax debt of PJSC “Creativ” amounted to UAH 868.1 million, incl. with VAT — UAH 201 million, a fine — UAH 25.7 million, the balance of unpaid fines — UAH 641.3 million.
translationSkelet.Info
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