Roshen`s Russian factory insists on return of RUB 181 mln paid to Russian budget

The Ukrainian Roshen confectionery corporation plans to claim via court RUB 181 million, or UAH 70.8 million, which its Russian confectionery in Lipetsk voluntarily transferred to the Russian national budget in May 2016 to prevent the property from being seized, following accusations of unlawful VAT refunds worth the said amount of money, according to Ukrainian news portal liga.net.
”We`ve done this [paid the sum to the budget] to get the Lipetsk factory`s property unfrozen and secure the possibility of negotiating its sale. Simultaneously, a legal process is underway at an arbitration court that the paid sum of the so-called damage [allegedly illegally refunded VAT] be returned,” the company`s press service told liga.net.
The corporation claims that the accusation of unlawfully reimbursement of VAT, along with a related criminal case, is an attempt to prevent the sale of the Russia-based factory. ”As long as the property is seized, it is impossible to sell it. Fourteen facilities, including a warehouse with finished products, four workshops, an auxiliary facility and seven plots of land have been seized,” the corporation`s press service said.
Along with the seizure initiated by the Russian Investigative Committee, there is a ban on the sale of seven other plots of land and some more facilities, which was imposed by a Russian tax inspectorate.
Earlier, the Lipetsk factory announced it had voluntarily contributed UAH 181 million to the Russian budget. The company was accused of embezzling the same amount.
On March 16, the Arbitration Court of the Central District in the city of Kaluga satisfied a claim filed by the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation and cancelled the prohibitory injunction in a claim filed by a Russian tax authority against Roshen`s Lipetsk factory.
A Russian law enforcement agency opened the criminal case under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of Russia (fraud). The investigators claimed that the factory allegedly presented fake documents to the Federal Tax Service`s interregional inspectorate in Lipetsk region in 2012-2013 to prove the construction of the factory`s facilities in 2012 to the tune of over RUB 1 billion. In addition, the company applied for the refund of almost RUB 181.5 million in VAT. The total value of the claims, as of today, is RUB 361.5 million.
As part of the criminal case, Moscow`s Basmanny court seized the factory`s property. It froze assets such as warehouses, workshops and plots of land owned by the factory. The corporation said the total sum of the seized property was RUB 2 billion (about US$ 31.25 million).
Roshen Director General Viacheslav Moskalevsky earlier announced that the company`s Russian assets had been put up for sale for US$200 million.
He also said that following the conflict between Russian and Ukraine, the Lipetsk-based factory`s production had drastically declined and it had to launch the production of similar confectioneries at its Ukrainian factories in Kremenchuk and Vinnytsia.

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