The Department of the Federal Tax Service for the Kemerovo Region sent an application to the arbitration court to recover 3.5 billion rubles. from the controlling persons of Zarechnaya Mine JSC (mines in the Kuzbass town of Polysaevo). The defendants in the claim are five legal entities and five individuals, including the bankruptcy administrator of the mine, Grigory Tretyak. The Tax Service considered that, due to the new business model they applied, the mine, having increased its production volumes, lost its status as a coal exporter and increased losses, and a number of interdependent companies accumulated cash flows from its activities. Lawyers predict a difficult proceeding in this claim due to the large list of defendants and the need to prove the actual damage to the tax authorities and other creditors.

The tax inspectorate went to court with a claim for the recovery of 3.5 billion rubles. losses from the controlling persons of Zarechnaya Mine JSC. The respondents were the Novosibirsk companies Sibshakhtomontazh LLC, Ugletrans LLC, Avangard Trading House LLC, the Kuzbass companies Tekhshakhtoprom LLC, Polysaevskaya Coal Company LLC, entrepreneurs Ilya Gavrilov, Andrey Filippov, Yuri Sazonov, Nikolay Chikalev. Another defendant was the bankruptcy trustee of the mine, Grigory Tretyak.

The Zarechnaya mine was declared bankrupt on November 20, 2017. Of 31.48 billion rubles. its accounts payable 35.66% is controlled by LLC MC Zarechnaya (also bankrupt), 32.7% of the debt falls on LLC Ugletrans, 17.33% - PJSC AKB Svyaz-Bank. The requirements of the Federal Tax Service at the end of 2019 amounted to 1.5 billion rubles. The maximum annual production of the enterprise in pre-bankruptcy times exceeded 5 million tons. The property of the mine was repeatedly put up for sale - as a result, the initial price decreased 11 times, to 1.5 billion rubles, but no buyer was found.

In its statement, the tax authorities indicated that after the Zarechnaya mine, the parent coal company of the same name and Aleksievskaya Mine JSC, a member of it, was declared bankrupt in November 2017, the defendants applied a new business model. Coal mining, beneficiation and sale activities were divided into “risky (“ loss centers ”) and risk-free (“ profit centers ”) parts." The Zarechnaya mine, being a subsoil user, has lost some of its functions for the preparation and development of reserves, enrichment at its own factory and loading, reports the Federal Tax Service. These directions, together with a part of the personnel, as well as the direction of loading coal into wagons, were transferred to OOO Tekhshakhtoprom. Sampling and monitoring the quality of coal - to the newly established LLC Polysaevskaya Coal Company. Coal sales were transferred to OOO Ugletrans, as well as OOO TD Avangard and OOO Sibshahtmontazh. “The business model made it possible to shift the generation of basic cash and commodity flows from bankrupt enterprises to a number of interdependent companies. The role of the Zarechnaya mine, as well as the Aleksievskaya mine, in the new business model was reduced only to coal extraction, ”the Federal Tax Service concluded, noting that both mines lost their status as coal exporters as a result. Export supplies were carried out by "Ugletrans", the main buyers of coal from the mines were "Sibshakhtmontazh", "TD" Avangard "", "Tekhshakhtprom".

According to the Federal Tax Service, during the bankruptcy proceedings, both mines continued their coal production and significantly increased it. Thus, the volumes of coal production by Zarechnaya in 2018 exceeded the indicators of 2017 by 64%, and for the nine months of 2019 the growth was 40% compared to the same period in 2018. At the same time, the mine's revenue in 2018 decreased by 9.1% to RUB 2.5 billion. “The value of the company's loss in 2018 increased by 44.1% (by 2.1 billion rubles) in comparison with the loss in 2017. Currently, the Zarechnaya mine continues to accumulate losses, ”the statement reads.

The new business model, implemented since November 2017, with the participation of the bankrupt mines - Zarechnaya and Aleksievskaya - and the defendants made it possible to take 5.23 million tons of coal products out of the control of debtors with a total value of 20.5 billion rubles. said in a tax statement. Losses of 3.4 billion rubles. At the same time, the tax authorities calculated taxes not paid in addition from the beginning of the implementation of the business model until September 1, 2019. Considering that losses are being recovered in favor of the creditor, and not the debtor, the arbitration court left the FTS application without consideration until December 2.

The bankruptcy commissioner of the Zarechnaya mine, Grigory Tretyak, declined to comment on the tax claims. The interlocutors of Kommersant-Siberia, familiar with the situation in Zarechnaya, note that the business model worked for several years and all this time the FTS did not declare any claims against it.