The owners of the terminal in Odesa port are accused of a fraudulent scheme for more than 100 million dollars

The American fund Argentem Creek Partners (ACP) stated that it encountered dubious court decisions in Ukraine aimed at blocking access to pledged assets. In particular, we are talking about the Odesa grain terminal.

This is reported by RBC-Ukraine with a link to the Facebook page of journalist-investigator Serhiy Lyamets.

Argentem Creek Partners invested in the development of the transshipment hub "Olympex Coupe International". The terminal belongs to the international holding GNT Group, and the owners are two Odessans Volodymyr Naumenko and Serhiy Groza.

"The general strategy of the owners of GNT Group could be described like this: 1) do not repay debts in any way; 2) transfer all valuable assets to other companies and continue to operate; 3) throw investors empty shells of companies that used to have a real terminal, grain, equipment, etc. ", the journalist writes.

According to him, the business of Odessa residents is recorded in many companies, which together create impenetrable legal thickets. For example, the direct management of the business takes place through three Ukrainian companies - LLC Olympex Coupe International, LLC "Metalzyukraine Corp Ltd" and LLC "ZPK "Inzernoexport". Now the companies are under the management of investors, but are under threat of liquidation, because due to the actions of the former owners, they are unable to return $118 million to creditors.

In fact, American creditors were offered to foreclose on the corporate rights of the owners of the GNT Group business, that is, in fact, an empty "shell" under which there would be no assets.

The amount of debt of the companies related to the beneficiaries, declared in the bankruptcy of only one key legal entity - "Olympex Coupe International", is more than UAH 1.3 billion in payables.

Also, during the investigation, it turned out that GNT Group had intentionally formed significant debt under control. It was supposed to allow to control the committee of creditors and to appoint a liquidator.

Another mechanism that Lyamets talks about is the use of banks as a tool for property redistribution.

In order to withdraw assets, a third party receives a loan secured by the debtor's property from international funds. The loan is not returned, and the bank quite legally seizes the property, sells it out of court without an auction and at the expense of repaying the loan. The buyer of the property at the auction is usually the owner himself, of course under the guise of a third party. In particular, the media already wrote about how Ferko and Vtormetexport LLC, controlled by Serhiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko, to which creditors have no right of recourse, took a $17.5 million loan from Pivdenny Bank. They handed over to Pivdenny Bank the property of the companies of the GNT group, including half of the pledged grain terminal in Odesa port, as collateral," the journalist added.

There are ongoing legal disputes in England, Switzerland, Cyprus, the Arab Emirates and Ukraine. The managers of the former beneficiaries of the group have been suspended or are in the process of being suspended.

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