Bank "Concord" does not pay under bank guarantees

Bank "Concord" does not pay under bank guarantees

On July 31, 2020, the Commercial Court of Dnipropetrovsk region reviewed a lawsuit filed by PJSC "National Energy Company "Ukrenergo" for the recovery of 8.8 million UAH from "Concord" bank due to non-fulfillment of a bank guarantee provided by the bank to LLC "Vizyn Rich".

"Justifying its demands, the plaintiff refers to the defendant’s non-fulfillment of obligations under the bank guarantee №71.00.007084 dated October 30, 2018, for the amount of 8.8 million UAH, issued to secure the obligations of LLC "Vizyn Rich" to the plaintiff regarding the return of the advance payment under the contract № 08-4/2635-18 dated October 11, 2018 (reconstruction of the external fencing of the Western power station substations)" - according to the court materials.

In response to the claim from "Ukrenergo," which was received by the court on June 11, 2020, "Concord" bank does not acknowledge the claim, including because "the contract № 08-4/2635-18 between the plaintiff and the third party dated October 11, 2018 contradicts the interests of the state and society, as well as its moral foundations".

This is most likely about money laundering of budgetary funds by the state company "Ukrenergo".

On July 29, 2020, "Concord" bank submitted a counterclaim to the court against "Ukrenergo" and LLC "Vizyn Rich" seeking to invalidate the bank guarantee №71.00.007084 provided by the bank.

"Concord" claims that "Vizyn Rich" approached the bank with a forged application signed by an illegitimate person to obtain the bank guarantee, and therefore, this application allegedly has no legal effect and is invalid.

The bank considers the contract with the LLC for the provision of a bank guarantee to also be invalid.

In reality, the bank is simply evading its obligations to "Ukrenergo". "Ukrenergo" is 100% owned by the state, represented by the Ministry of Finance. LLC "Vizyn Rich" is registered to a front person named Ihor Hrynkevych.

He is also the owner of LLC "Construction Company "Verkhovyna" (Lviv), which went bankrupt, and the founder of LLC "Security and Legal Company Kobra".

The owners of "Concord" bank are sisters Olena and Yuliya Sosyedka.

In 2018, the National Bank of Ukraine imposed a fine of 1.5 million UAH on "Concord" bank for money laundering.

"Concord" and LLC "Vizyn Rich" are also involved in criminal case 42018000000002532.

The case is being handled by the Main Investigation Department of the National Police under criminal offenses provided for in Articles 366, 364, 368, 191, 205-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In July 2020, the director of LLC "Vizyn Rich" appealed to the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv with a petition to lift the arrest on property, which was imposed on April 15, 2020, by an investigating judge on the funds in the accounts of the LLC, opened in "Concord" bank, "Alliance Bank", "Kredobank", and "PrivatBank".

Justifying the need for the arrest of funds, the prosecutor in the respective motion referred to the fact that the materials of the criminal proceedings established that officials of "NEC "Ukrenergo", abusing their official position, contrary to the interests of the service, for the purpose of obtaining undue benefits for themselves and third parties, in collusion with officials (actual owners and managers) of LLC "Vizyn Rich" from October 2018 to the present time embezzle and misappropriate funds during purchases and works at facilities where they are the customers of such works, and the sources of financing the works are the funds of "Ukrenergo" - stated in the court’s decision.

In this connection, the court refused the LLC "Vizyn Rich" in the petition to lift the arrest on its bank accounts.