The Omsk-based SpetsStroyAvangard (SSA) company, which is building an oil pipeline in Irkutsk, blames the former deputy of the local legislature and the companies under his control for active raider attacks on their business. A large contractor of Transneft is sure that competitors by all legal and illegal means want and are trying to paralyze its activities. “Fightraids” will try to investigate and figure it out!
The head of SSA A. Slesaryuk three years ago signed an agreement with the Tomsk company ASTResource on the purchase of about 100 units of special equipment for 230 million rubles. The beneficiary of this transaction was the former deputy of the local legislative assembly S. Ageev. Previously, he himself has been a subcontractor of Transneft twice. However, in 2015, he delayed the implementation of the contract, after which he left the market for the production of oil pipelines with billions of dollars in arrears.
Slesaryuk is sure that his company suffers from unfair actions on the part of former “partners” who, by any possible means, want to sue the already paid equipment. The special equipment was originally owned by Ageev’s company TransSeverGroup. The machines were removed from this company to ASTResource at an extremely low price. So, for example, a tractor with a market price of several million rubles was withdrawn in the format of seizure by bailiffs at a price of no more than 100,000 rubles. In total, ASTResurs paid about 11 million rubles for a hundred units of special equipment. “SSA” sold this equipment almost immediately, but for 232 million rubles.
Slesaryuk is sure that Ageev wants not only to return the equipment for which quite a lot of money was paid, but also to sue additional funds for its use in the amount of 500 million rubles. Moreover, most likely, Ageev will not stop there and is implementing a raider takeover of a competitor. The head of “SSA” is sure that the claims of “ASTResource” have no grounds and the main task of such actions is to sabotage the implementation of the project for the construction of the oil pipeline.
Family ties and five-year installments
The history of cooperation with Ageev, Slesaryuk and “SSA” considered in detail in their statement to the UK, demanding help from the federal leadership in resolving the conflict that had arisen.
The applicants are confident that the original terms of the agreement provided for the transfer of special equipment free of charge to the authorized capital of SpetsStroyAvangard. In turn, Slesaryuk undertook to transfer half of the enterprise to Ageev. Since the latter was going through bankruptcy proceedings, Ageev offered to rewrite the share to his relative A. Sechin. As a result, Slesaryuk gave her half of the SSA. However, when the company began to study the status of the received equipment, they learned that restrictions were imposed on most of the machines.
As a result, the parties came to an agreement on the sale of special equipment in a five-year installment plan, emphasized in the “SSA”. The funds that Ageev received from the deal, he pledged to use for settlements with creditors, thereby gradually freeing cars from existing collateral. Two years ago Slesaryuk transferred 53 million rubles to Ageev’s company, as well as paid for the supply of special equipment to one of the facilities located in the Irkutsk region.
After the delivery of the vehicles, it turned out that most of the equipment was out of order. Some dump trucks were provided without power plants, and the bulldozers lacked important track elements, and also had other disadvantages. SSA filed a claim directly against Ageev. However, the parties came to a consensus that the Omsk company is repairing special equipment at the expense of paying its price, and while it is kept by SpetsStroy Avangarda, it is being operated and gradually bought out. These agreements were fixed by the corresponding agreements.
However, Ageev did not pay off his obligations on bail and arrest. In its statement, “SSA” indicates that instead of fulfilling obligations, at the beginning of 2019, Ageev began to demand from Slesaryuk urgent payment of the entire volume of special equipment provided and the payment of “dividends” from the Transneft order for 100 million rubles. In case of refusal, Ageev promised to move to “active actions.”
Legal proceedings and “stolen special equipment”
In the winter of 2019, ASTResource filed a lawsuit to terminate storage agreements and the subsequent return of special equipment. The local court granted the request for the arrest of the controversial special equipment. However, this decision was appealed, which overturned it. Plus, Ageev demanded 400 million rubles from the owner of “SSA”. for the “use” of equipment, most of which was in a faulty condition.
In the summer, the Investigative Committee of Tomsk opened a criminal prosecution on the fact of the theft of property in relation to “an unidentified circle of persons.” Local law enforcement officers found the special equipment “stolen” from “ASTResurs” at the facility where the company delivered them more than six months ago.
Slesaryuk stated that he does not consider these requirements as a threat to business. He was sure that Ageev’s only task was to sabotage the work of the SSA on the project to build an oil pipeline. “These ridiculous demands do not even deserve attention. 400 million for the use of technology, attempts with the help of a relative to take away an enterprise, far-fetched criminal prosecution – all of these claims have no grounds. Such threats do not frighten a person like me, – Slesaryuk declares. – Today Ageev has a completely different task – to paralyze the implementation of the project. He is well aware of the increased requirements of Transneft, since once he was no longer able to cope with the entrusted project. Its goal is to block the work of my enterprise at the facility in every possible way. This is exactly why, after the refusal to arrest with the help of the arbitration court, criminal prosecution suddenly opened.
Investigative Committee and raider attack
The judicial authorities determined that the operation of the SSA special equipment was based on legal grounds. However, even before the decision was canceled by the higher courts, bailiffs appeared at the headquarters of the enterprise. They were accompanied by unknown persons who tried to block the activities of the enterprise.
The next time, new investigators from Tomsk came to arrest the special equipment. They drew up an act of transferring the special equipment to Ageev’s confidant D. Atyushkin. They acted on the basis of the decision of the Kirovsky District Court of Tomsk. However, it should be noted that in this document there was only a ban on the sale or lease of equipment.
The withdrawal of technology began 3 weeks later. In the summer, an armed group under the command of an investigator from Tomsk named Kovalenko arrived at the site. As a result, they confiscated and handed over the special equipment to the representatives of “ASTResurs”, without even drawing up the transfer papers.
The management of the enterprise considers the existing pressure on all fronts experienced by the “SSA” as an attempt of a raider takeover. The company pays attention to Ageev’s strong ties with high-ranking security officials. It is difficult to determine the materiality of these statements, but in this conflict the participants are already asking for help from federal structures.
“Ageev is not a businessman. The foundation of his well-being is not labor of creation. After Ageev, scorched earth remains everywhere. Being bankrupt, he pulls in close associates with him. He is a businessman who does not hesitate to use dubious ways to achieve the set task, ”Slesaryuk emphasizes.