VIM Airlines representative: ''The new team is working to bring the company to recovery''
The court has not given another delay to VIM Airlines and introduced the monitoring procedure
VIM Airlines has failed to avoid the initial stage of bankruptcy procedure — monitoring. The arbitration court gave it five days to repay the debt to Spektr-Avia JSC in Ulyanovsk, which assigned the right of claim to RNGO PLC, but the debtor failed to fulfill the condition during the adjournment. But it stated that the new team is going to repay all the debts and put the airline on its feet. Read the details in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
''We do have the desire to save the company''
On 13 February, after the adjournment given to VIM Airlines to pay off 3,7 million rubles to RNGO PLC, to which Spektr-Avia JSC transferred the right of claim, all parties of the case on the airline bankruptcy again met in the court.
The first news from legal representative of VIM Airlines Alexey Vyruchaev was disappointing — the defendant did not repay the debt due to lack of funds.
''Why we actually asked for more time. I ask to file additional documents — value added taxes and excise taxes statements that were declared on 27 December 2017 to the tax office and by which the deduction is more than 300 million rubles. To date, the tax authority has not transferred money on the airline account. We are ready to repay the debts at the expense of these money,'' the attorney explained to the court, noting that the tax service was to return the funds at the end of January.
However, he didn't explain why the guarantee letter of the company with the proof of the ability to repay the debt was written without the availability of funds, but decided to once again remind that Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich approved of such a way out of the situation.
Vyruchaev asked to give VIM Airlines a month to repay the debt, stating that ''we do have the desire to save the company.''
Strange affairs at 511 million rubles
Timoshin, the representative of the plaintiff, did not abandon their claims — the Ulyanovsk company insisted on bankruptcy of the debtor.
''It was enough time to repay [the debt]: to take a loan, to re-borrow, to ask someone from your counterparties. We oppose an adjournment, we have all the consideration terms running out,'' Timoshin noted.
He asked to file to the case the court's decision to recover from the airline 511 million rubles in favour of Domodedovo Commercial Services PLC and the information from the database of bailiffs, according to which the debtor has 148 enforcement proceedings, including on salary.
''In other words, we believe that the debtor is, in fact, insolvent to pay all monetary obligations,'' the attorney gave the verdict, asking to consider the merits of the case.
Vyruchaev gave his assessment of the court decision on the case of the penalty at 511 million rubles.
''It's a very strange case, in fact, because the collection took place during one session. This case has 56 volumes we didn't manage to acquaint with. We asked to postpone this meeting, the court didn't meet us halfway. In other words, there wasn't any revocation there. Of course, this decision didn't come in force, and it will be appealed. There is enough foundation for cancellation,'' the defender's representative replied.
And he tried to assure the court that VIM Airlines could be saved.
''In addition, we plan to pay on the cases that exist today. There was a problem, money laundering, there is a criminal case, etc. But the new team is working to lead the airline towards recovery,'' Vyruchayev claimed.
In the end, the court didn't add the claim of 511 million rubles, which didn't come into force, to the case.
The representative of the Deposit Insurance Agency of Russia, who serves as another creditor in the case, was consecutive in his actions and supported the lawsuit of VIM Airlines to postpone the hearing again. But judge Mikhail Averyanov was no less consecutive – having given a chance to pay off the debt, he didn't drag the case on and continues to consider it.
A step towards bankruptcy
When it became clear the beginning of the bankruptcy procedure couldn't be avoided, the defender's side turned to the plaintiff with a question about the candidacy of the arbitration manager. The creditor asked to choose him from the number of the Central Agency of Arbitration Managers.
The defender noted the arbitration manager needed to have access to highly classified information to deal with the airline's cases and asked the plaintiff to either provide a document confirming the candidate had such access or offer another candidacy with such access. But Timoshin noted the case didn't have a paper from the Federal Security Service that says the airline had access to highly classified information. Vyruchayev insisted the access of the carrier to top-secret data was mentioned in documents of VIM Airlines. But they all were taken away during the investigation, while he didn't have a protocol about the inspection of documents.
The DIA representative talked in a clearer way. He says Maria Bulatova was offered as a candidate for arbitration manager. But he doubts she can assume the responsibility for VIM Airlines due to her occupation. The case is that the candidate is a bankruptcy manager of Housing Capital group of companies from Moscow Oblast and also participated in a big case that's considered in Perm Oblast. ''I don't know how she agreed, perhaps, she just didn't understand,'' the DIA representative concluded.
The sides refused to debate because their position was already clear: the defender asked a postponement, while the plaintiff demanded to start the bankruptcy procedure. After the break, the judge announced the bankruptcy of VIM Airlines, which was filed by
RNGO PLC was recognised reasonable and the procedure of supervision of the airline headed by temporary manager Maria Bulatova started.
So the bankruptcy of the airline kicked off. It will become clear soon whether ''the new team'' of VIM Airlines will be able to correct the situation and free it from debts. Meanwhile, a session that will admit the debtor a bankrupt was appointed on 14 June 2018.