THE SUPREME COURT WILL CONSIDER THE ISSUE OF THE MANAGER'S AFFILIATION THROUGH REPRESENTATIVES

In the framework of the debtor's bankruptcy case (A56-108239/19), creditors whose claims were included in the register made a decision at the meeting on the candidacy of the debtor's bankruptcy trustee. At the time of the adoption of this decision, the court had not considered the claims of majority creditors – banks.

The court of first instance declared the debtor bankrupt and approved the manager chosen by the creditors, rejecting the arguments of the banks about the affiliation of the candidacy of the manager and creditors.

The appeal overturned the decision, sending for a new consideration the issue of appointing a manager by random sampling, based on the court's doubts about the due integrity and independence of the manager in connection with the representation of the interests of the manager, the debtor and the debtor's beneficiary by the same group of persons.

The cassation supported the position of the first instance.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation referred the case to the board and emphasized the arguments of the banks' complaints that there was no need to prove the direct affiliation of the arbitration manager with the debtor or creditor, while information was provided confirming reasonable doubts about the independence of the manager, which, according to the applicants, is sufficient to reject this candidacy.

By itself, the decision of the creditors' meeting does not eliminate reasonable doubts about the independence of the approved candidate and indicate that at the time of the creditors' meeting, the register did not include the claims of majority creditors – banks whose total amount exceeds six billion rubles, which, according to the applicants, indicates the lack of priority of the decisions taken at this meeting.