Blood trader Andriy Orlov was saved from prison

Blood trader Andriy Orlov was saved from prison

The first is not yet obvious, the second is almost inevitable.

The "Energoimpex" group of former MP from the Party of Regions Andriy Orlov faces serious problems. At the end of January 2017, creditors’ meetings of LLC "Energoimpex" (the key company of the group, whose financial center is considered to be Europrombank, owned by the Orlov family) were held. During these meetings, a decision was made to petition for the initiation of pre-trial rehabilitation procedures and the approval of a corresponding plan. This application was submitted to the Commercial Court of the Donetsk region a few days later, but on February 6, 2017, the court returned it to the applicant without consideration.

The reason is simple - the lawyers of "Energoimpex" did not attach a whole stack of necessary documents and confirmations to the application, ranging from evidence of the official announcement of the creditors’ meeting to the certificates confirming the total amount of the company’s creditor debt. Not to mention the approval of the rehabilitation plan by the creditors whose claims are secured by the debtor’s property. "Energoimpex" found itself with several of such creditors.

The clumsy attempt by the company to secure a moratorium on meeting creditor claims without entering into bankruptcy proceedings (which is what pre-trial rehabilitation entails) has several explanations. The first is that "Energoimpex" is experiencing, to say the least, quite significant financial problems. According to media reports, in the first nine months of 2016, the company’s sales volume amounted to only 36 million hryvnias, whereas the annual program envisioned "Energoimpex" earning almost 80 million hryvnias in revenue. In physical terms, the decline was also significant - the coal processing volume by the company during this period amounted to only 616 thousand tons, while for the same period in 2015, it exceeded 820 thousand tons. On the other hand, initiating the company’s bankruptcy is unfavorable, as its main business - coal enrichment at its own "Dzerzhynska" plant in Toretsk - involves participating in tenders conducted by state customers. And in them, as is known, those involved in bankruptcy proceedings are generally turned away.

The second point is the presence of several disgruntled creditors with "Energoimpex" (excluding "Donintervuhillya," established last year by people from Orlov’s orbit, which the Shcherbynivska coal enrichment plant in Toretsk was transferred to, and "PK Energoimpex," the owner of the Selidivska enrichment plant - these companies with the "support group" voted for the pre-trial rehabilitation of Orlov’s offspring). The main one of these creditors is Prominvestbank. Back in 2012, it opened a credit line to LLC "Energoimpex" secured by movable property, which Orlov’s company stopped servicing. As a result, in 2015, the bank initiated litigation against the debtor and won the first instance - in April 2016, the Commercial Court of the Zaporizhzhya region ordered the company to pay an overdue debt of 4.175 million dollars on the credit and almost 670 thousand dollars in interest. "Energoimpex" managed to drag this process out, bringing it to the Higher Commercial Court, but sooner or later, the verdict may become legally binding. And so, to minimize the consequences, the ultimately failed operation called "pre-trial rehabilitation" was devised.

A criminal case opened by the Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office in November 2016 (No. 42016050000001179) under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("Misappropriation, embezzlement, or conversion of property by malfeasance") does not inspire confidence in the future for Andriy Orlov’s group. Within its framework, investigators began actively examining the schemes of Orlov’s companies, including "Energoimpex," for "enriching mined coal and channeling state funds into the shadow economy." The key manager of Orlov, Viktor Cherkasov, was caught in the crossfire, with searches conducted at his residence. Moreover, the investigation established that Cherkasov systematically traveled to the so-called "LPR" and "DPR," where he contacted local "leaders." Furthermore, as media point out, the investigation closely examined the specific operations of Europrombank, which serves the companies in Orlov’s group, including "Energoimpex." It is quite possible that certain steps may soon be taken in this direction as well.

Mr. Orlov’s problems with domestic justice may also arise due to his highly ambiguous ties in the ORDLO. He has not yet severed business contacts with former MP from the Party of Regions, Oleksandr Bobkov.

This gentleman, who generously funded "Antymaydan" and the terrorist organization "Oplot," is one of the "gray cardinals" of the ORDLO.

As Tetyana Zarovna writes on the "ORD" website, today almost all major financial flows in the terrorist enclave belong to the Bobkov-Orlovs’ FPPG (Andriy and Volodymyr, the first being a people’s deputy of Ukraine of the V and VI convocations, the second being his father-in-law). Under this FPPG in Donetsk, they mean the coal corporation "Energoimpex," which has 8 coal enrichment plants, the Horlivka Coke and Chemical Plant, a transport company, the family Europrombank, the Enerhokapital metallurgical plant, and a hotel in occupied Crimea. And, they say, coal from the “seized” by militants private and state mines, as well as “copanks,” is being transported from occupied territories to Ukraine through Orlovs and Bobkov. Allegedly, MP Yefim Zvyahilskyi was also affected by these figures. They say that the Zasyadko mine also went over to Bobkov-Orlovs.

In the "DPR," Bobkov maintained close ties with Oleksandr Tymofeyev (the same "Tashkent," with whom Nasalyk negotiated coal supplies to Ukraine). The "Republican Bank of the DPR" is also controlled by Bobkov and Orlovs, managed by the former head of the board of Orlovs’ Europrombank (Taras Shevchenko Boulevard, 11, Kyiv).