THE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT STOPPED THE BANKRUPTCY OF THE PULP AND PAPER MILL

The bankruptcy proceedings of a pulp and paper mill in the Sverdlovsk region were terminated by the arbitration court in connection with the reconciliation of the parties. The company managed to reach an agreement with representatives of the tax authorities who initiated the case in April 2023.

During the period of court proceedings, claims from the Federal Tax Service No. 13 increased from 72 million to 96.3 million rubles, Kommersant writes. Under the terms of the settlement agreement approved by the arbitration court, the plant promised to close the debt to the Federal Tax Service within a year.

April 2023 was a particularly difficult month for the Turin Pulp and Paper Mill. A dozen applications were submitted to the plant with demands for 76 million rubles. The tax authorities established a debt of 72.49 million and declared the company's insolvency. This happened just two months after the plant managed to close a million-dollar debt to the K-Polymer company, which demanded that the pulp and paper plant be declared insolvent in January.

For the company, which has been a producer of powder pulp since 1939, such a development of events turned out to be extremely unfavorable. The plant provides work to more than 600 employees. The company's revenue in 2021 reached almost 2 billion rubles. To bankrupt such a taxpayer would also be a blow to the regional budget.

The claims of the tax authorities did not arise from scratch. The prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against the former deputy head of the company Valery Polyakov. He was accused of damaging a pulp and paper mill in the amount of over 7 million. The case was sent to court. It turned out that the former top manager carried out business transactions with the Perm-controlled firm "Bumkhiminvest", of which he was a hidden beneficiary.

The products of the pulp and paper mill were sold to the organization below cost, and then resold at a higher price. As a result, the plant did not receive a profit of about 28 million rubles in the second half of 2019.

A settlement agreement with the Federal Tax Service may allow the plant to get out of the financial hole in which it found itself. Now the plant is engaged in the production of paper for sanitary and hygienic purposes and corrugation. The company produces fiberboard. Since April last year, the production of office paper has been established. The main beneficiary of the enterprise with a share of 32.57% is Perm deputy Roman Ponomarev.