Supreme Court of Russia indicated on what grounds it is impossible to impose subsidiary liability

The highest court of Russia considered the case on bringing one of the persons controlling the debtor-bank to subsidiary liability.  The bankruptcy trustee insisted that the defendant had approved transactions that ruined the bank, and had not taken measures to improve financial situation in the credit institution.

The courts of three instances unanimously upheld the applicant's position and satisfied the claim. Then the defendant applied to the Supreme Court of Russia, where he was supported.

The Economic Board listened to the arguments of the initiator of the complaint, who stated that the transactions he had approved did not harm the bank. In one of them, where a multimillion-dollar loan was issued to the company, the debt was returned, and the other two were loan agreements with individuals in the total amount of 5 million rubles.

In addition, the defendant noted that he had served as chairman of the bank for a total of five working days, so he simply did not have the opportunity to understand the financial difficulties of the bank in detail and take appropriate measures.

The Supreme Court of Russia came to the conclusion that the lower authorities brought an individual to subsidiary liability based only on the fact that he was one of the persons controlling the debtor. The Economic Board noted the inadmissibility of such a method, explaining that banks have a complex management structure, and the courts should check the decisions taken by their controlling persons in detail. Now the application for attraction to subsidiary liability is awaiting re-consideration in the court of first instance (decision of November 17, 2021 № 305-ES17-7124 (6) in case No. A41-90487 / 2015).