A large construction company in Nizhny Tagil, Uralstroymontazh, which, in particular, is executing a billion-dollar contract for the reconstruction of local roads within the framework of the national project Safe and High-Quality Roads, has found itself at the epicenter of proceedings with government agencies.
So, the contractor is now trying to dispute the extra charges of tens of millions of rubles after the audit of the Federal Tax Service, as well as his inclusion in the “black list” of the Federal Antimonopoly Service due to problems with another major municipal contract. In both cases, the merchants have already declared that they will face significant damage if the decisions of the services are not suspended, but the courts could not convince them of their position. Meanwhile, observers note that the problems with the fiscals, apparently, are not limited to tens of millions, but in parallel, the construction organization is under pressure from partners. In particular, Uralvagonzavod, an asset of Rostec Group of Companies, put up demands for a hundred million rubles to a company from Nizhny Tagil, and Steel Industrial Company announced its readiness to file a bankruptcy lawsuit against Uralstroymontazh. The beneficiary of the business, Aleksey Golyashchenko, speaks of his readiness to challenge the claims and “a personal conflict with the authorities of Nizhny Tagil.”
The executor of the billion-dollar municipal contract in Nizhny Tagil, which is being implemented as part of the Safe and High-Quality Roads national project, LLC Uralstroymontazh, in an appeal, is trying to get the suspension of the decision of the Federal Tax Service, to which the companies were additionally charged tens of millions of rubles.
Earlier, the construction organization, challenging the claims of tax officials on VAT for 34 million and on income tax of 20 million, already insisted on “freezing” the decision, pointing out, in particular, the potential damage to the business.
“The recovery can cause significant damage to the financial and economic activities of the organization, the one-time execution of the decision of the inspection will entail a significant restriction of the taxpayer’s property opportunities, the emergence of difficulties in the implementation of his activities and the fulfillment of contractual obligations, the onset of adverse consequences in the form of penalties under contracts for non-fulfillment obligations, while the company is obliged to fulfill its obligations to counterparties, repay the current debt and ensure the stable implementation of activities,” followed from the position submitted to arbitration, which, however, refused the company’s demands.
At the same time, it should be noted that the claims of the state agency against the company from Nizhny Tagil, apparently, are not limited to the amounts described above. So, in a lawsuit against the tax authorities, interim measures are mentioned “for the amount of additional charges in the amount of 126.9 million.” In addition, according to Kontur.Fokus, the company has enforcement proceedings for 128.7 million, related to the collection of taxes and fees, including penalties.
At the same time, Uralstroymontazh LLC, owned by Alexey Golyashchenko, is now attempting to contest being listed as an untrustworthy supplier under another municipal contract in addition to its disputes with the fiscal authorities.
In an attempt to challenge the decision of the OFAS in the Sverdlovsk region, the company also sought interim measures to suspend the decision, but this request was denied. In court, the company pointed out the threats associated with being included in the “black list” of the FAS.
Uralstroymontazh is an active bidder, and being listed as an unreliable supplier in the RNP implies negative consequences, including harm to the business reputation, inability to participate in new purchases, possible contract termination, and resulting losses, according to the company’s representatives.
It's important to note that the company was added to the register due to a conflict over a contract for building public roads in the Murinsky Prudy microdistrict of Nizhny Tagil, costing 551 million rubles.
According to information on the public procurement portal, the contract was terminated because “the contractor made changes to the project documentation provided by the customer, resulting in completely unsuitable work.”
The customer's decision to unilaterally refuse to fulfill the municipal contract stated: “There are deviations from the approved design decisions for the Chernoistochinsky Highway; the Udovenko street – Zakharova street intersection has deviations from design solutions; treatment facilities are 60% completed; sidewalks are 40% completed, and landscaping is 20% completed.”
Photo: Sergey Kazantsev
However, Alexey Golyashchenko, the owner of Uralstroymontazh, shared his perspective on the situation, stating to a local media outlet that “the project was functioning,” and referred to the situation as a “personal conflict” between the contractor and the current authorities of Nizhny Tagil.
It's worth mentioning that there were indeed disagreements between the authorities and the contractor, including under a contract for the reconstruction of public roads along Oktyabrskaya Revolutsii Street and Tsiolkovsky Street with an overpass across the railway tracks along Tsiolkovsky Street for 1.3 billion rubles, funded in part by the federal budget.
For example, last autumn, Nikolai Novikov, deputy director of Nizhny Tagil’s Municipal Customer Service, criticized the slow progress on the overpass on Tsiolkovsky Street, stating: “We will take strict measures to compel the contractor to fulfill the work. One of them will be imposing penalties; through the court, the customer will demand that the contractor pay a penalty for not completing the project on time,” as noted by the SZGH representative at the time.
Let’s add that now work under the contract for 1.3 billion continues. In January, the second stage of reconstruction started.
In addition to problems with government agencies, Uralstroymontazh, for example, received large claims from JSC NPK Uralvagonzavod named after F.E. Dzerzhinsky (part of the Rostec State Corporation). Claims under two applications of the corporation amount to almost 100 million rubles. In addition, in February JSC “Steel Industrial Company” (Yekaterinburg) officially announced its readiness to go to court with a bankruptcy claim against Uralstroymontazh.
