S. Makhlai, along with four other defendants, was convicted in absentia in 2019 in a criminal case of fraud on an especially large scale, which caused damage to ToAZ in the amount of 77 billion rubles, and 10 billion rubles to the minority shareholder of the enterprise, Uralchem. Since Makhlai refused to compensate for the damage, bankruptcy proceedings and the sale of property were initiated against him.
The Arbitration Court of the Samara Region appointed Oleg Egerev from the Ural SRO of Arbitration Managers as the financial manager of Sergei Makhlay. In accordance with the responsibilities assigned to Egerev for the sale of the debtor’s property, he organized an auction for which 70% of ToAZ shares were put up.
The FAS’s refusal to satisfy the offshore companies’ complaint is most likely due to the fact that the offshore companies – the applicants of the complaint – are the property of Makhlai, who is in bankruptcy proceedings, and are themselves included in the bankruptcy estate. According to the law of the Russian Federation, debtors do not have the right to participate in auctions of their own property, and, therefore, a priori cannot be persons whose rights may be violated. The obvious purpose of filing complaints that cannot be satisfied even on formal grounds is the disruption of trading in ToAZ shares, organized by the owner of the company himself, American citizen Sergei Makhlai.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”