10:59 09.06.2016

Kharkiv tractor plant invites tax representative to creditors meeting on June 9

4 min read
Kharkiv tractor plant invites tax representative to creditors meeting on June 9

Kharkiv tractor plant insists on the participation of a representative from the specialized state tax inspectorate for servicing large tax payers in Kharkiv to a general meeting of the plant's creditors on June 9.

The inspectorate refuses to take part in the meeting, which has been called to approve a pre-court financial recovery plan for the plant.

"It must be noted that an announcement [of the creditors meeting] has no reference to the grounds of the general meeting of the creditors and there is no plan of pre-court financial recovery, as a result of which the tax authorities had no opportunity to learn by June 8, 2016, about the causes behind the pre-court financial recovery of PJSC Kharkiv tractor plant and the provisions of the pre-court financial recovery plan," reads the inspectorate's letter posted on the plant's official website.

According to the letter, the tractor plant's tax debt as of June 1 was UAH 1.755 million. In keeping with the State Treasury Service in Kharkiv and a December 8, 2015, ruling by Kharkiv's Administrative Court of Appeals, the plant's debts to the national budget on foreign loans drawn against government guarantees stood at UAH 400.98 million.

The inspectorate says that the monitoring of debts on government-backed loans is within the Ukrainian Finance Ministry's authority, while the State Treasury Service tackles overdue budget payments. Therefore these two agencies should be engaged in recovery of the plant's debts and should be invited to the creditors' meeting.

What is more, the inspectorate says that it sees no signs of bankruptcy threats at the moment.

The plant's management considers the reasons mentioned in the letter to be formal. "JSC Kharkiv tractor plant offers its creditors, including the specialized state tax inspectorate, a real and the only possible plan to get out of the critical situation – pre-court financial readjustment, which will help fully meet the claims of all creditors, including the state," the plant said in its statement, which is also posted on its website.

The plant also invites representatives of all other state agencies concerned to attend its creditors' meeting.

As was reported, Kharkiv tractor plant became the epicenter of a scandal when the SBU Security Service of Ukraine seized its property and bank accounts early in June 2016, accusing the plant's management of sabotage and preparation of equipment for relocation to Russia.

Shareholders in PJSC Kharkiv tractor plant claims that the accusations brought by the SBU against the plant's management are groundless. They say the charges were made in order to seize the plant's bank accounts and announced plans to protect their rights in courts, including international ones.

The shareholders note that due to the criminal cases, which entailed the seizure of property and all bank accounts, the plant's work is paralyzed. All the workers have been sent on leave and there is a three-month delay in the payment of wages to 2,500 employees. Also the same time, the company cannot pay all taxes, despite the availability of funds in its accounts. It has discontinued shipments of finished products, components, spare parts and materials from nearly a hundred Ukrainian enterprises.

It became known in April 2016 that a controlling stake in the plant was bought by president and owner of the DCH Group Oleksandr Yaroslavsky as was proposed by Austrian-based shareholder Siegfried Wolf.

DCH had earlier owned the plant before 2007 when Russian GAZ Group, controlled by Oleg Deripaska, became the plant's strategic partner.

Wolf, who is chairman of the board of directors at OAO GAZ, owns a 30% stake in Kharkiv tractor plant.

He also announced the plant's production plans had failed due to property seizure.

The tractor plant, which was founded in the Soviet era in 1930, manufactures dozens different models of tractors and special equipment for agriculture, the housing and utilities sector, construction.

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