Kyiv, August 12, 2015. Bank of Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov – PJSC First Ukrainian International Bank (PUMB) – attracts fake guarantors to transfer proceedings of credit matters to Dnipropetrovsk region, where corrupt judges instantaneously pass unlawful judgements. The details of the scheme used by PUMB to seize the assets of its clients-borrowers were disclosed by representatives of LLC Eximagrokom, which owns an oil-extracting plant in Chuhuiv, Kharkiv region. The next hearing in the case of LLC Eximagrokom is scheduled for August 18, 2015 in Dnipropetrovsk. The company hopes that in the post-revolutionary country, whose president declared a commitment to tackle oligarchy, the National Bank of Ukraine, law enforcement agencies and national courts will not allow the tycoon's bank to seize the property of the Ukrainian producer. "Since both PUMB and LLC Eximagrokom are registered in Kyiv, litigations regarding the execution of loan agreements fall within the jurisdiction of Kyiv Commercial Court," says Andrii Poraiko, partner of the law firm LA Group, which provides services to Eximagrokom. "However, PUMB used a fake guarantor – LLC Modern Business, registered in Dnepropetrovsk, to move the litigation to the Commercial Court of Dnipropetrovsk region, where one of the respondents is officially registered," said Poraiko. In 2014, LLC Eximagrokom took a loan of UAH 36 mln in one of the branches of JSC PUMB. The loan was secured, inter alia, by a mortgage on property rights for oil-extracting plant in Chuhuiv. At the time the loan was issued the factory was still under construction. Despite the fact that Eximagrokom regularly paid the interest on the loan on time, and the deadline for the final settlement of the loan was still months ahead, the bank sent Eximagrokom a notice demanding the repayment of the full amount of the loan – UAH 35.8 million – ahead of schedule. The formal reason behind this demand was allegedly the fact that Eximagrokom did not register the right of ownership for the newly built capital facilities, which are part of the complex of the plant's buildings, as well as that the company did not conclude a mortgage agreement with respect to this property. Notably, the company did file the relevant application to the State Registry, yet upon the consideration of the submitted application the authority refused to register the right of ownership. PUMB was duly informed about this circumstance. "Until July 2015 we were in negotiations with PUMB, during which we offered various options for the repayment of the loan by installments or refinancing it. But during the negotiations it became clear that PUMB is not interested in returning the lent money, and instead wants to use a formal pretext to seize the company's business, which is ten times more expensive than the amount of the loan," Eximagrokom's Head of Legal Department Edvard Danilov said. In July 2015, Eximagrokom received a statement of claim from which it learnt that in February 2015 PUMB and an unknown company Modern Business concluded a contract of guarantee under which the latter allegedly vouched for debtors – Eximagrokom – within the sum of UAH 100,000. Moreover, having examined the public register of court decisions and legal entities, Eximagrokom lawyers obtained proof of the connection between the fictitious guarantor LLC Modern Business with PUMB. In particular, it transpired that Modern Business director Alexei Dolgii is the founder of Agro-Shliah. In turn, the second founder of Agro-Shliah – Lvov Oleksander – is the director of Agro-Top; both enterprises are registered at the same address: 1 Sobinova Street, Dnipropetrovsk, 49083. It should be noted that all three companies were used by PUMB as bogus guarantors for the change of jurisdiction, as is evidenced by a number of materials in the open court registry (case №904 / 2324/15, 18/05/15, case №904 / 8277/14, 22.12. 14). "The main purpose of transferring the case to the 'right' court and judges (for PUMB) – is to conduct early proceedings and receive a positive court decision on debt recovery and secure decisions about the arrest of the debtor's assets. In practice, the hearing of cases by commercial courts of first instance takes no less than two months, while the final decision is delivered after two, sometimes up to 10 court sessions. During the first hearing in the case of LLC Eximagrokom, which took place on August 4, 2015, we, as the client's lawyers, had "to fight" for over three hours to convince judge Manko G.V. to announce a break for the evaluation of new materials. And this is just one of the numerous procedural violations in this case," said Andrii Poraiko. According to Danilov, in addition to litigations, PUMB takes extrajudicial steps with the view to re-registering the mortgaged property in its own name. He believes that the purpose of such actions is to completely block the company's business and force it to voluntarily give up its assets to the bank-raider. Eximagrokom's management hopes that the authorities of the country in a pre-default state will make all legitimate efforts to protect the Ukrainian company which pays taxes and provides real jobs. In December, 2014 LLC Eximagrokom completed the construction of its oil-extraction plant in Chuhuiv, Kharkiv region. The plant's processing capacity is 1,200 tons sunflower seeds per day. The annual production capacity is 432, 000 tons. The plant is equipped with the world leading technologies and employs over 300 people. For more information please call: +38 (063) 725-22-22 or e-mail: [email protected]