HANDING OVER OF THE DEBTOR’S DOCUMENTS BECAME A STUMBLING BLOCK FOR THE COURT

Recently, the Commercial Court of the Moscow District considered an interesting case on the request of the arbitration manager to hand him over the accounting and other documentation of the debtor.

The fact is that in the case under consideration, the manager, who announced the need to transfer the documentation, was the second manager of the debtor, and the documents had already been handed over to the first one.

Having received the package "by inheritance", the second manager found the volume of documents insufficient and filed a corresponding claim in the court.

The court of the first instance did not consider the case thoroughly and satisfied the requirement in full, obliging the former head of the debtor to transfer his documentation to the manager. During the appeal, an interesting thing happened: the court rejected the manager's claims, referring to the evidence about the transfer of the necessary documentation to his predecessor.

Having brought the case to the district court, the manager substantiated his position by the fact that he was not provided with specific documents on specific counterparties of the debtor. They were not handed over to his predecessor as well.

In such a situation, the district court had no choice but to cancel the lower-level acts, indicating the need for a detailed investigation of the volume of the submitted documentation in comparison with that requested by the manager.

Now the case will be re-considered in the court of the first instance (decision of August 19, 2020 in case A40-48975 / 2017).