Vyacheslav Sobolev
Yenakiyeve businessman Vyacheslav Sobolev continues to successfully enrich himself through old schemes and with the help of judges who have been vetoed by the people. Together with Yevgeny Plugatyrenko, also implicated in the infamous Family scheme involving food for Chernobyl children, Sobolev is currently rolling out a scheme that will allow him to avoid repaying a half-billion-ruble loan.
Irrevocable financial aid based on Yanukovych's prescriptions
In 2011, the entire property of Sobolev's well-known retail chain, Obzhora, and Voskhod LLC were pledged as collateral for a 459 million hryvnia loan, with Prominvestbank serving as the lender. The bank's problems with this loan began around the same time as the family-run scheme to embezzle funds from feeding young children affected by Chernobyl was already in full swing.
While the Yanukovych clan was plundering their children, a businessman known in Donetsk as "Slava the Glutton" resorted to the same "family" chain of companies and shell firms to evade loan repayments. These companies included Donbass Profinvest-2012, Trade Market Group LLC, and Serteza PJSC.
Nashi Groshi has already written about these organizations: PJSC Serteza, along with Trade Market Group LLC, is co-owned by Tunaras Investments Limited. This Cypriot offshore company also owns the Dominanta fund, a stake in which is held by the infamous Tantalit LLC, the owner of the Mezhyhirya lands.
Trade Market Group LLC links Yanukovych to Yevhen Plugatyrenko, a Donetsk businessman who co-owned Ukrainian Business Bank during Arbuzov's tenure. Plugatyrenko is also known for ceding his shares to Oleksandr Yanukovych.
Vyacheslav Sobolev is also connected to the Family. Not only because of his background and party affiliation with the Party of Regions. And not only because he has relatives and friends in Russia—he was married for a long time to the daughter of Russian Senator Shpigel.
In order to cheat the creditor, Sobolev initiated bankruptcy proceedings against his own business and immediately took part in a highly dubious scheme in which his company, VOSKHOD LLC, became a guarantor for the debts of Trade Market Group LLC, which had purchased UAH 900 million worth of securities (shares in PJSC Serteza) from the unknown company Donbass Profinvest-2012.
Thus, when the bank attempted to recover its money and foreclose on the collateral, a new party suddenly appeared in the bankruptcy case—a "friend" creditor with more voting power than the bank. And now only this creditor could decide at what price to sell the debtor's property and to whom...
At the same time, the transaction to purchase shares from Profinvest is absurd in itself and contains signs of fraud. According to the agreement, Sobolev's Voskhod LLC acquires nothing more than the obligation to pay the debts of Plugatyrenko's company, which suddenly decided to buy securities worth the aforementioned amount from Donbass Profinvest. Furthermore, Plugatyrenko's firm has never dealt with securities, focusing more on the retail market. Voskhod got involved despite already having an enormous debt, and PJSC Serteza, whose shares were the subject of the agreement, is a company with only one employee, who isn't even paid. Experts estimate that the value of Serteza shares is absurdly inflated, and in August, the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) opened proceedings against the PJSC to suspend share trading as part of a criminal case and at the behest of the Prime Minister of Ukraine.
The latter specifically states that the case was opened with the aim of protecting the interests of the state of Ukraine (order dated 15.08.2014 No. 1289/1/1-14-DSK), writes the website Ukraine In Shock
In the hands of Lvov
It would seem that Vyacheslav Sobolev has the bank pinned down, tied hand and foot, and that only a fair trial can save the case.
A certain amount of hope might be inspired by the fact that the case regarding the "Glutton" debts is in the hands of a judge who has received the approval of the Lustration Committee and meets the requirements of a post-Maidan society (which, we recall, includes the liquidation of old family schemes).
This refers to Bohdan Lvov, elected on April 15, 2014 as the new chairman of the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine.
However, despite the well-known and frequently discussed facts in society, the case is gradually acquiring all the hallmarks of a farce familiar to Ukrainians from the times of the “Family” rule.
Thus, in response to Sobolev’s counterclaims against the bank, the court issued a decision that effectively prohibits any legal entity holding the right from defending its interests and collecting the legal debt (https://reyestr.court.gov.ua, ruling of 13.06.2014 in case No. 910/11387/14).
This became possible thanks to a new cunning somersault by “Glutton”, who filed a petition to invalidate the agreement on the assignment by Prominvestbank of the right to claim under the loan agreement to a new creditor – the company “Avis Finance”.
Even a citizen with little legal awareness would understand that such a petition has no bearing on the "Glutton" case, as it in no way concerns his loan repayment obligations. A more law-conscious citizen would conclude that such an unlawful decision could not have been rendered by a judge who had undergone lustration and promised to restore public trust in the country's courts.
It turns out that the court's decision effectively allows Sobolev to scam not only Prominvestbank but also Avis Finance LLC. What's the matter?
In such circumstances, whether you like it or not, you will recall the numerous publications linking Bogdan Yuryevich Lvov with the systematic concealment of loan defaulters (the case of OTP Bank against Elim Partner), with former Minister of Agriculture Mykola Prisyazhnyuk (who was also implicated in the case of robbing children of Chernobyl victims) and Vyacheslav Sobolev himself.
If the rumors about the close friendship between these people are true, then the question of whether there was lobbying and, apparently, the sale of illegal decisions, becomes rhetorical.
Unfortunately, Prisyazhnyuk, like Vyacheslav Sobolev and Plugatyrenko, believes that loans are irrevocable financial aid for starving "family" millionaires. This seems to be an enduring tradition among those close to the Yanukovych clan—borrowing money from banks and then not having to bear any liability for it, with the connivance of commercial courts.
All these people, having retreated into the shadows, haven't lost their loot and are now growing their wealth. They're growing it at the expense of ordinary citizens. And Ukraine's judicial system seems to be on their side.
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