Kirill Katkov has commented for RBC Pro on a personal bankruptcy case that became one of the largest in terms of payouts to creditors in 2023

RBC Pro pointed out that in 2023 courts set a new record for the number of completed insolvency cases of citizens. Over 250,000 people who owed creditors almost RUB 804 bn emerged from bankruptcy during the year. At the same time, in the fourth quarter of 2023, creditors received about RUB 15 bn – the maximum value of payments for the last two years. 

Among the top 5 cases that ended in 2023, where creditors received the largest sums, was the personal bankruptcy of Sergei Puzanov, owner of Uralneft fuel group. The entrepreneur declared himself insolvent after his companies Uralneft Management Company, Kargapolsk Oil Refinery and Kosobrodskaya Neftebaza LLC went bankrupt because of  RUB 1 bn in debts to Sber. The assets of the companies pledged to the bank were sold at auction for RUB 250 mn, after which the financial manager continued to collect the remaining debt personally from Puzanov. Within the framework of his personal bankruptcy case, the debtor had managed to give a Toyota Land Cruiser 200 car, two motorbikes (BMW and CFMOTO) and two flats (in Kurgan and Moscow) to three citizens of the Russian Federation. A court cancelled the transactions, returning the flats to the bankruptcy estate, of which the Moscow one (worth RUB 71 mn) was immediately declared by Sergei Puzanov as the only housing, so that the manager was left to sell the Kurgan one (worth RUB 4 mn). As a result, creditors received only RUB 210 mn from the sale of business assets, and the court refused to write off the debtor’s liabilities.

“As can be judged from the court’s ruling on the completion of the debtor’s property realisation procedure, the amount of debts repaid could have been higher. The creditors’ claims were satisfied mainly at the expense of pledged property of third parties. The debtor avoided disclosing the composition of its property to the financial manager and, moreover, purposefully withdrew the available assets to prevent foreclosure, thus preventing the financial manager from filling the bankruptcy estate. Taking into account such bad faith behaviour of the debtor, the court’s decision not to release him from his obligations is justified,” Kirill Katkov, Associate at Maxima Legal, commented on the case especially for RBC Pro.

To read the full article (inRussian), please, seee RBC Pro website >>>