Maxim Avrashkov has shared with members of the Winner club his opinion on the widening of liability for entrepreneurs

Maxim Avrashkov - Managing Partner

As part of a meeting of the Winner RBC St Petersburg club, the Managing Partner at Maxima Legal, Maxim Avrashkov, has described the widening of liability of beneficiaries, owners and top managers, a demand arising following the previous irresponsibility of businesspeople. According to Maxim, the changes will generally have a positive effect on business in the country, making business more reliable.

“The tightening of personal liability for businesspersons follows the “wild” capitalism in Russia, which led to both the regulatory authorities and the entrepreneurs themselves being forced to look for additional tools”, Maxim emphasised. Maxim’s point of view was that this situation has been partially created by the state, which should create more favourable conditions for business.

According to Maxim, insolvency laws now enable the prosecution of not only persons formally representing directors and owners, but also anyone else who may somehow influence a company’s activities. Previously, the only way for a third party to incur liability was through criminal prosecution. Today, lawmakers have made it possible for civil law mechanisms to influence people who control companies. “In this sense, judicial practice is already being formed. The number of persons incurring subsidiary liability is growing every year by 30%. There are already cases when people who are formally not involved in the company incur liability”, said Maxim.

“It seems to me that the path towards personal responsibility of business in Russia is inevitable. We must go through the process, to form a new culture of behaviour in which entrepreneurs respect the financial interests of all their counterparties. And then the legal requirements should obviously be softened”, concluded Maxim.

The Winner club was created by RBC Petersburg in 2014, and brings together entrepreneurs and progressive businessmen from St Petersburg to exchange relevant knowledge and discuss current issues.

For further information, please see the Winner club website >>>