Oligarch and corporate raider Vadim Novinsky is back at it again. This time, he's trying to seize the Amstor retail chain.
On December 31, 2014, with the forceful support of armed forces (presumably the Dnepr-1 Battalion), representatives of Smart Holding, which is controlled by Vadim Novinsky, carried out a hostile takeover of the Amstor retail chain. Six supermarkets in Zaporizhzhia, three in Mariupol, and three in Kyiv were attacked.
From about 3:00 p.m., armed men began entering Amstor supermarkets and forcibly seizing office premises, cash collection points, and the accounting department.
Employees and customers at the store claim the armed men were wearing the uniforms of the Dnipro-1 Battalion. It remains unclear why, instead of restoring peace in Donbas, this unit is participating in the seizure of a peaceful business.
The "aliens" presented documents with signatures and seals claiming to represent the company's management, which had changed the day before, and had come to conduct an inventory. The "new owners" also claimed the supermarkets' daily sales. Company employees were not notified of any management change or inventory check; the stores were operating as usual pre-holiday business. Store managers and department heads were working at their desks. Due to these illegal actions, the supermarkets were completely shut down.
The day before, on December 30, 2014, the address, founders, and director of Amstor LLC were changed in the State Register of Enterprises of Ukraine using forged documents. The changes also affected other companies in the Amstor group.
From now on, according to the registry data, the enterprises of the Amstor group are registered in the city of Dnepropetrovsk at a previously unknown address.
In particular, Amstor Trade LLC, which carried out trading activities in Amstor supermarkets, had its founder replaced by a company registered in Bailiza, and the new “director” is a certain Yudin Yu.P.
Apparently, the founders and director of Amstor were changed based on forged documents. Thus, a hostile takeover of the Amstor chain was carried out.
Thus, we are faced with a classic corporate raiding scheme: a change of address, founders, management, and the forceful seizure of assets.
Law enforcement agencies are currently conducting operational activities to collect evidence of illegal activities by representatives of Smart Holding.
One of the shareholders of Amstor LLC, Smart Holding Corporation, owned by oligarch Vadim Novinsky, apparently decided to take advantage of the unstable situation in the country to become the sole owner of the retail chain. As a reminder, Vadim Novinsky, a Party of Regions member of parliament and friend of Yanukovych, recently received Ukrainian citizenship for unclear achievements.
He is currently a shareholder in Amstor LLC, but is attempting to seize Amstor-Trade, a company he has no connection to. This entire scheme is being carried out, in part, to avoid repaying bank loans currently owed to Amstor LLC.
The attempted corporate takeover began quietly a couple of weeks ago, with media reports alleging that Amstor had violated the National Security and Defense Council's order banning cashless transactions in the ATO zone. The National Security and Defense Council itself has not confirmed any complaints against Amstor, while chain representatives insist the retailer operates within Ukrainian law and complies with the order banning cashless transactions.
Everything that's happening fits into a well-established scenario. Today's incident is reminiscent of the 2009 situation. Back then, Amstor suddenly came under suspicion of smuggling "Chinese strollers." And it all began with the promotion of negative information on online resources. Then, the chain's employees recall the morning of September 23, 2009, when officers from the Donetsk Oblast Ministry of Internal Affairs entered the office premises and, with the support of the Organized Crime Control Department, began conducting searches at work. Fourteen Amstor shopping centers were shut down. Most employees were suspended from work and locked in one office, some forced to lie face down on the floor. Additionally, early in the morning, searches were conducted at the homes of ten top managers, who were escorted to the Donetsk Oblast Organized Crime Control Department building, where, after lengthy interrogations, they were placed on bail. As D.F. Glushko, the general director at the time, recalls: "Around 7 a.m., law enforcement officers arrived at the house and began a search. No one seemed bothered by the fact that there were small children in the house. They immediately took me away, and in the Organized Crime Control Department building, they tried to beat me into false testimony they wanted, threatening me with imprisonment. My work documents and computer were confiscated. My work and the work of the company's employees were paralyzed." Elena Ivanova, manager of one of the Amstor shopping centers, recalls: "I was detained for two days in a pretrial detention cell, not given the opportunity to inform my family of my whereabouts."
Criminal case No. 67-2207 was opened on October 09, 2009.
However, after Smart Holding became one of the shareholders, the criminal prosecution ceased within days, law enforcement stopped pressuring the company and its top managers, and the case was closed due to lack of evidence.
And now, it appears that Smart-Holding is planning to seize complete control in the same manner, depriving the remaining shareholders of any involvement in the company's operations. Judging by its online publication history, Smart-Holding has already earned a reputation as a "corporate raider," having seized several other industrial enterprises in a similar manner.
Thus, despite the state's commitment to achieving European standards, nothing has essentially changed; old corporate raiding schemes continue to be actively used.
It is difficult to say whether Amstor will be able to withstand such pressure this time around in such difficult economic and political conditions, and whether thousands of its employees will be left without work.
Information is currently circulating online that Amtor underwent inspections that revealed violations of the law in its operations. Such inspections have never taken place, and there are no documents to support this. If there are any doubts or disagreements, they must be resolved legally in the courts, not by forceful seizure in front of peaceful shoppers.
Smart Holding's statements, published in the media, allege that "minority shareholder Vladimir Vagorovsky" committed illegal actions. Smart Holding is referred to as the "major shareholder."
We confirm that Vladimir Vagorovsky was never a participant in Amstor LLC, Amstor Trade LLC, or Smart-Holding.
Also, contrary to the claims of Smart Holding representatives in the media, no audit or inventory was conducted at Amstor LLC.
Thus, the statements made by Smart Holding in the media are an outright lie intended to cover up the raider takeover of Amstor supermarkets.
The catalyst for the above-described events was likely a lawsuit filed by the former founders of Amstor LLC against the Cypriot company KLIORIL CONSULTING LTD, controlled by Vadim Novinsky. The gist of the dispute is that Novinsky, in typical fashion, wanted to obtain Amstor LLC for free and therefore did not pay for the purchased corporate rights. The former owners, having been defrauded, intend to restore their corporate participation.
Failure to fulfill obligations is the hallmark of former Party of Regions member Novinsky. A prime example is Bank Forum—deceived depositors are still waiting for Novinsky to fulfill his "honest" word and return their deposits.
Realizing that the scam was over and justice would be served, the "great schemer" decided to go all in and seize Amstor LLC by force.
It is safe to say that Mr. Novinsky has returned to his usual methods of earning money, which were popular in the 90s and were also revived during the reign of the Family, to which Novinsky was also close.
The staff and legitimate management of the Amstor retail chain expresses hope that law enforcement agencies will promptly provide a proper assessment of the actions of Smart Holding representatives and that those involved in the armed raider takeover of Amstor supermarkets will be held accountable.
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