Solid Bank refuses to pay funds and delays processes
The West Siberian structure of RVC, Tyumen Vodokanal, is trying to achieve multimillion-dollar payments from the Far Eastern Solid Bank. The conflict unfolded due to the refusal of a financial institution to transfer funds under a bank guarantee previously issued to the contractor of a Tyumen company – the Nizhnevartovsk company AmperStroy – as part of the execution of an agreement on the reconstruction of engineering structures. At the same time, Solid Bank, according to observers, appears to be trying to prolong the confrontation as much as possible, and the partner of the RVC structure is likely sliding into bankruptcy. This is not the first such experience of conflicts surrounding the reconstruction of a pumping station, which is part of the wastewater treatment plant system of the municipality with a population of 860,000. Previously, Tyumen Vodokanal also took part in protracted proceedings with Russian People’s Bank due to refusal to pay under the guarantee after the failed work of the contractor Gazexpertstroy from Moscow. While Tyumen Vodokanal is trying to get funds from Vladivostok, observers note that “the ongoing disruptions of work” could negatively affect plans to create a modern water treatment system in Tyumen by 2025.
The Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal of Moscow ruled on the complaint of Solid Bank JSC (Vladivostok) in the framework of a dispute with Tyumen Vodokanal LLC (TVK, part of Rosvodokanal of Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, Alexey Kuzmichev and Maria Mikhalkova) over banking guarantees in the amount of about 32.9 million rubles.
Let us clarify that in April 2022, Tyumen Vodokanal entered into an agreement with Amperstroy LLC (Nizhnevartovsk; the only founder and director is Vadim Vinogradov) in the amount of about 144.6 million rubles. An enterprise from the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, having received an advance payment of more than 36.1 million, undertook to carry out a set of works at the facility “Reconstruction of the main block of structures: modernization of flocculation chambers, settling tanks, automation, reconstruction of related engineering systems.” “Reconstruction of the 1st lift pumping station.” They should have been completed by June 1 of this year.
In order to secure the obligations of AmperStroy to Tyumen Vodokanal, Solid Bank issued a guarantee. The financial organization undertook to pay any amount up to 32.9 million in case of violation by the contractor of the terms of the agreement for reconstruction. It should be noted that the contract between TVK and the office from Nizhnevartovsk contained strict conditions – a delay in any of the stages by more than 15 days meant the impossibility of completing all the work by the final date. Meanwhile, by mid-October last year, the schedule delay reached 11 weeks.
Next, the structure of Rosvodokanal notified AmperStroy of the unilateral termination of the agreement, and in November sent to the office of Solid Bank a demand for payment of the entire amount of the guarantee. At the same time, the customer emphasized that AmperStroy did not repay the advance payment issued in almost full amount.
However, the credit institution refused, citing, in particular, the allegedly unattached documents, as well as the unforeseen method of sending the request itself. Let us add that in court representatives of Solid Bank insisted on the need to provide an accurate mathematical calculation of the amount of the stated claims.
However, the Moscow Arbitration Court took the side of Tyumen Vodokanal. Thus, in particular, the authority emphasized that the provision of a mathematical calculation is unlawful, and the required amount does not exceed the amount of the guarantee itself, and, moreover, is less than the unpaid advance. It was also established that the Tyumen residents provided all the necessary documents, and they were accepted by the credit institution.
The result of the litigation was a decision to recover the amount of the guarantee in favor of Tyumen Vodokanal, which, however, the bank did not agree with. However, the appeal confirmed the legality of the decision. Observers, however, do not rule out that Solid Bank will try to challenge the decision in cassation.
This dispute was not the first for Tyumen Vodokanal concerning payments under a bank guarantee. So, for example, in three instances a case was considered in which the structure of Rosvodokanal sought payment of over 150 million rubles from the Russian People’s Bank. The dispute revolved around a guarantee issued to secure a contract for the reconstruction of engineering infrastructure for water treatment.
The contractor in this case was Gazexpertstroy LLC from Moscow, which has been under surveillance since July of this year. The publication also reported in detail about these proceedings. It should be noted that the demands of the TVC were recognized as legal only for 78.6 million, and the Tyumen company was refused to transfer the complaint to the panel of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation for consideration.
Parallels with previous proceedings, in addition to protracted processes and bank refusals to pay funds, can also be traced in the fate of the performers of work on a strategic project for Tyumen. Like Gazexpertstroy, AmperStroy LLC appears to be experiencing serious financial problems. At the end of August, the Arbitration Court of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug introduced a monitoring procedure at the enterprise that failed to fulfill the contract based on the claim of Stroyelektromontazh LLC. The assumption of a difficult situation is supported, in particular, by the inability to repay a relatively small debt of just over 3.3 million rubles to the creditor within several months.
One way or another, as the agency’s interlocutors in the regional housing and communal services sector note, if the confrontations between Tyumen Vodokanal and credit institutions are important, first of all, for itself, then failures in the execution of contracts for the reconstruction of infrastructure related to water treatment affect the interests of the entire municipality. The project to improve the quality of water supply in the structure of Rosvodokanal was publicly announced back in 2021, and it was planned to complete the work as part of the investment program by the beginning of 2025. One of the key stages was the reconstruction of the first lift pumping station at the Metelevsky water intake, which provides about 50% of the resource supplied to residential areas of Tyumen.
