Lawyer Iosip Andrei said the patrimonial interests of the company “Central House” and the creditors have been seriously prejudiced since August 1, 2018, the company being the lawful owner of a number of buildings situated on Mitropolitul Varlaam St, with a total area of 2,700 square meters.
In a news conference at IPN, the lawyer who represents the interests of “Central House”, said the company has a number of associates, including SRL “Ubicuit Group” with a holding of 70%, private individual Vitalie Perciun with a holding of 20% and three foreigners who together own a 10% shareholding. Vitalie Perciun, serving as the statutory administrator of “Central House”, filed an introductory application to institute insolvency proceedings against the company he managed, invoking its payment incapacity.
“Among the creditors of “Central House”, Mister Perciun Vitalie mentioned “Central Group”, which is an affiliate company, private individual Perciun Vitalie and the state budget. Evidently, “Central Group” subscribed to the introductory application of “Central House”. “As a result, by the decision of the Chisinau City Court of June 10, 2020, the introductory application submitted by the statutory administrator of “Central House” and the application filed by “Central Group” were accepted and insolvency proceedings were brought against the debtor “Central House”, given its payment incapacity,” explained the lawyer.
By the decision to institute insolvency proceedings, the court empowered insolvency administrator Veaceslav Timotin to take over the company and the debtor assets it owned when the insolvency proceedings were instituted. It was established that “Central House” owned a number of buildings located on Varlaam St, with an area of 2,700 square meters. It was also determined that on August 1, 2018, “Central House” managed by Vitalie Perciun signed a lease with “Central Group”, which was an affiliate company that he also managed. Under this contract, the real estate belonging to “Central House” was leased out to “Central Group” for a period of 29 years. The contract was signed on behalf of both of the sides by Vitalie Perciun, who was the administrator of both of the companies.
In accordance with the contract signed in August 2018, since August 1, 2019 “Central House” has been paid rental of €3 per square meter (before this date, the rental was €10 per square meter and then €5 per square meter). For its part, “Central Group” leases the areas out to 60-70 lessees for €40-50 per square meter, plus the payments for public utilities and guard services.
Since August 2018 until present, “Central House” has been caused patrimonial damage totaling about €2.5 million. Recently, “Central Group” was notified by the insolvency administrator of the termination of the tenancy relations and the obligation to transfer the debtor assets to the insolvency administrator. But the company refused to fulfill the insolvency administrator’s demand, arguing the lease is valid for 29 years.
Andrei Iosip said SRL “Central Group” also attempts to obtain an illegal court judgment that would confirm an arbitration agreement and a relevant executory title for suspending the legal effects of the actions of the insolvency administrator.
He noted that namely the actions of SRL “Central Group” should be classed as illegal as this company has benefitted from huge returns on account of the losses sustained by the debtor SRL “Central House”, which became insolvent only because of the actions of Vitalie Perciun.
