LACK OF ACCOUNTING DOCUMENTS MAY LEAD TO SUBSIDIARY RESPONSIBILITY

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation came to such a conclusion when considering the bankruptcy case. The panel of judges noted that the complete or partial absence of accounting documentation might be a reason to suspect persons, controlling the debtor of the illegality of actions that could lead to bankruptcy.

The logic of the highest court is simple - if the documents contain evidence of the bankruptcy of the debtor by its controlling persons, then the debtor’s management may try to hide these documents from the administrator and the court, declaring their absence.

Such behavior may give rise to doubt the legitimacy of the actions of persons controlling the debtor, as well as become one of the reasons for bringing them to subsidiary liability. However, it is important to remember that the absence of accounting documents might not be an independent reason for bringing to subsidiary liability.

At the same time, according to the opinion of the Supreme Court, the requirement of bringing to subsidiary liability, which is motivated by bringing to bankruptcy and based on the presumption of failure to transfer accounting documents, arises at the time of the performance of the actions that led to the bankruptcy of the debtor.