The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office and ordered the transfer of 81.8% of the shares of the Ivanovo Heavy Machine Tool Plant to state ownership, reported RBC.
In its claim, the department pointed to violations during the privatization of the plant: the shares were illegally acquired by Vladimir Bazhanov (who was one of the plant's shop managers) and his son Mikhail, who bought 81.8% of the company's shares. Prosecutors suspected them of halting production activities, breaking cooperative ties with defense enterprises, fragmenting the plant's property complex, and also withdrawing assets in 2014–2017 to affiliated organizations.
The Supreme Court led by Igor Krasnov agreed with the arguments of the Prosecutor General's Office, which filed the claim when Igor Krasnov was also the prosecutor general. The decision overturns the verdicts of the appellate and cassation instances, which denied the Prosecutor General's Office in satisfying its demands.
The appellate decision was made in September last year. The legal bureau “Constanta,” representing the interests of the enterprise, noted that this was the “first case of overturning such a decision in the appellate instance.” The defense insisted that the plant does not belong to defense industry enterprises and noted that the statute of limitations had expired.
However, the Supreme Court supported the position of the Prosecutor General's Office that the plant, which has “strategic importance for the country's defense and security,” was transformed into a joint-stock company in 1992 by the property management committee of the Ivanovo region administration illegally, as the decision on this matter should have been made by the Russian government.
Photo: Vedomosti