Andriy Orlov sent Putin’s bankers to the "DPR"

Andriy Orlov sent Putin’s bankers to the "DPR"

The founder of the group “Energoimpex” leaves Prominvestbank without a billion

Former Verkhovna Rada deputy Andriy Orlov continues the debt clean-up of his business. One of the most well-known companies of his group – LLC “Donetskvuglezbagachennya” – has entered bankruptcy proceedings. In this status, it can remain for a long time, deferring settlements with its creditors indefinitely. The main one among them today is Prominvestbank, which the Orlov enterprise owes over 1 billion UAH. The relations between Prominvestbank and the “Donetskvuglezbagachennya” company have been in the judicial sphere since the beginning of 2015, when the latter stopped servicing a loan of 25 million dollars. The bankers, without hesitation, filed a lawsuit demanding full repayment of the loan, arranged under agreement No. 20-1741/2-1 dated June 20, 2011, but it took the court three years to address this initiative.

This pause is a direct merit of the legal team of ex-MP from the Party of Regions, Andriy Orlov, in whose coal processing group “Energoimpex” the “Donetskvuglezbagachennya” is included.

The lawyers of this company and the affiliated LLC “Istek”, which acted as a guarantor before the bank, alternately initiated court proceedings, the main subject of which was the recognition of the aforementioned loan agreement as invalid. For the time of reviewing these claims, the issue raised by Prominvestbank about the collection of granted loan funds was “frozen”, and only after the debtor lost all instances on their claims did the judiciary return to the PIBM’s lawsuit. As “OLIGARCH” wrote, on June 22, 2018, the Commercial Court of the Zaporizhzhya region ordered the joint recovery from LLC “Donetskvuglezbagachennya” and LLC “Istek” of the aforementioned $27 million.

And on October 1, Prominvestbank secured a decision to collect pledged property in payment of the “Donetskvuglezbagachennya” debt in the form of the property complex of the “Chumakovska” Central Processing Plant. However, this court decision will not bring significant harm to the company. The point is that the production complex of “Chumakovska” is located in Donetsk – in the territory occupied by pro-Russian militants, with whom Andriy Orlov, who moved to the USA back during Yanukovych’s time, has not managed to establish relations.

Despite the fact that the first “shots” of Prominvestbank, which through the Russian state corporation VEB is included in the orbit of Russian President Vladimir Putin, have so far hit the “target”, the founder of the group “Energoimpex” has taken preventive measures. Back in August, the bankruptcy procedure of LLC “Donetskvuglezbagachennya” began in the Commercial Court of Donetsk region.

The signs of manageability of this process are obvious. This is evidenced by the fact that the initiator of the bankruptcy is a company from Orlov’s orbit, LLC “ETC ‘Energoindustry’” (it is registered to Volodymyr Pidkopayev, who is also listed as the formal owner of the processing plant “Mykhaylivska” from the “Energoimpex” group).

As well as the fact that a whole range of companies from the former MP’s orbit have already formalized their claims to the debtor. Only two of them – “IC ‘Energoimpex’” and “Energocapital” – are owed about 500 million UAH by “Donetskvuglezbagachennya”. So they have every chance of gaining control over the debtor’s creditors’ committee, considering that PIBM is a secured creditor.

Six months ago, a similar scenario unfolded in the bankruptcy procedure of LLC “Energoimpex”. Of the 300 million UAH of its debts recognized by the court, about 80% accounted for structures from Orlov’s orbit, including LLC “Donetskvuglezbagachennya”. And at their submission in April, the company was declared bankrupt. Apparently, a similar scenario awaits “Donetskvuglezbagachennya”.

The company has virtually nothing to lose – all its assets are located in the occupied territory, in Donetsk (the aforementioned “Chumakovska” Central Processing Plant) and Makiivka (a complex for the disposal of metallurgical and coal industry slurry waste), and have long been “seized” by local fans of the “Russian world”. Instead, Orlov may shed the unbearable debt to the main creditor.

Oleh Kulbida “OLIGARCH”