Engine supplier gets court order for payment for two engines (500 words)

Published: 8/7/2000

A Tu-154M belonging to KrasAir has been seized at Aviakor's facility in Samara under a court order issued on behalf of OFI-INT, which claims that the Siberian carrier has failed to pay $400,000 for 2 engines supplied to the airline. Mikhail Malkov, the bailiff of the Kirov district of Samara region appeared at Aviakor where the KrasAir aircraft was finishing repairs, with an order to recover Rb 11.2 m ($400,000) of debt and a Rb 1.25 m ($44,643) penalty and seized the aircraft. OFI-INT, a trading/barter clearing company, delivered 2 engines for the Tu-154 in May 1999 and according to the company provided very competitive terms of 3 months and a 30% discount for KrasAir. Endeavouring to get the debt paid OFI-INT took KrasAir to the Krasnoyarsk Regional Arbitration Court, but failed to get a judgement in its favour. The East Siberian District Arbitration Court in Irkutsk however, later threw out the judgement of the lower court and made the order for seizure. KrasAir however, believes that the seizure was illegal and have argued that the original purchase agreement with OFI-INT, which offered two schemes of payment, and that OFI-INT went to court to put pressure on KrasAir regarding the price of the engines under the agreement. After the East Siberian District Arbitration Court judgement the airline claims that it began payment of the debt and said that as of 25th July 2000, following payments on the 18th and 24th of July, it had paid Rb 5.5 m ($196,429). The schedule of payment however, seems somewhat erratic, with the airline admitting that payments were made “almost every week”. The airline further adds that the supplier did not communicate with the management of KrasAir that it required payment to be made any faster. Sergey Vladimirovich Seminikhin of OFI-INT is however, says that his company intends "to bankrupt" KrasAir because of the non payment and argues that the airline owes monies due for almost 1.5 years and that the payments to date are minor. He says his company have been contacting other creditors of the airline with the intention of taking the airline to the edge of bankruptcy. In the belief that KrasAir have the money, but are simply avoiding payment. The taking of bankruptcy proceedingin Russia is not very difficult and companies can often be put into administration by the smallest of creditors.Additionally Seminikhin claims that they can potentially delay the ailrine's reciept of Tu-204s by delaying delivery of the aircraft's landing gear and promised other unspecified action over the next couple of weeks KrasAir representative's who have contacted the Deputy Chief Bailiff for Samara and have threatened to have him brought before the arbitration court if the aircraft is not released. The rumours in Moscow daily Vedomosti that Aviakor would join the OKI-INT in seeking monies outstanding from KrasAir where rejected by company spokesman Elvira Shpak, claiming that certain elements hostile to the airline were attempting to stir up trouble. She added that the seizure appears to be based on a belief on the part of the bailiff that more money was owed than was actually the case.

Article ID: 1968