“Companies of Former Shareholders of PNT Redistributed Funds in St. Petersburg Court” — Yulia Orlova for Delovoy Peterburg
St. Petersburg LLC "Rusinvest" recovered 120 million rubles from Moscow LLC "Toll Road." Both companies are linked to the Skigin family, former shareholders of the Petersburg Oil Terminal.
The redistribution of funds between interrelated companies is a fairly common practice,
— says Yulia Orlova, leading lawyer at Prime Advice Law Offices.
— This is done to finance projects using own funds, without attracting credit funds from banks or other independent lenders.
At the same time, Yulia Orlova draws attention to an interesting point. In court, "Toll Road" argued that "Rusinvest" had withdrawn money in violation of Presidential Decree No. 618 "On the Special Procedure for Carrying Out (Executing) Certain Types of Transactions (Operations) between Certain Persons (anti-sanction regulation)." That is, transactions made in circumvention of special economic measures established by presidential decrees violate public interests and, as a consequence, are void.
If a party alleging a violation of public order can prove its assertion to the court, then the parties to the transaction will be obliged to return to each other everything received under such transaction. And if the transaction was made with respect to a strategic enterprise, confiscation to the state revenue is possible,
— clarifies the lawyer from Prime Advice. According to her forecast, the chances of a revision of the ruling will largely depend on what the parties to the dispute manage to prove.