Once upon a time, people feared loans like fire, because you could end up with your bags packed and fall into a debt pit. People used to say that being in debt is like being at sea: no bottom, no shore, no sleep, no peace in sight. Business people feared losing their honor and failing to keep their word most of all.
Now this seems to be a relic of the past. Cheating the state or your neighbor – that is what it means to know how to spin in business. Well-known commercial "chains" are when one after another, like butterflies, little firms disappear and even tax officials end up at a broken trough. This method of fictitious firms was described by satirists in the novel "The Golden Calf," where the decrepit office-director always sat in for others. Here, as a rule, the slick operators don't end up in jail but surface somewhere else. What can you say: such fraud is rather crude work. There are already more refined ways to catch a fish without getting your feet wet.
So it is worth publicizing the almost dramatic story connected with the emotional suffering of businesswoman Natalia Melnyk. Her husband, Viktor Melnyk, general director of "Olvid-bud" LLC, as his wife claims, without her knowledge and consent pledged the company's property – the administrative building, the carpentry workshop and the lathes in it. According to the agreement of April 27, 2004 with "Zakhidinkombank," "Olvid-bud" LLC received a credit in the amount of two million hryvnias. Already from July the company stopped paying interest to the bank, and then altogether, as if it had gone underground, avoided any contacts with the bank. And here Natalia Oleksiivna nearly cried out – help!, because the property of "Olvid-bud" would be sold at auction. And this, it turns out, is property jointly acquired with her husband! She felt deceived and robbed; she had long been unable to stand the sight of her husband, and therefore in September 2004 she went to court to have half of the pledged property considered her own and the agreement with "Zakhidinkombank" declared invalid. In short, it looked as though the couple were quarreling while the creditors' heads were splitting.
And what's interesting: Viktor Melnyk did not feel oppressed or disappointed by such an unexpected turn of events. He did not resist: if it needs to be divided, then it needs to be divided. But not so long ago he had appeared a fully empowered and strong owner. He provided the bank with documents showing that the property – both the administrative building and the carpentry workshop and the lathes – belonged to "Olvid-bud" LLC, and that he was its general director. And he bowed and bowed: give me the millions, give them. All the more so since the talk was of building with those funds a shopping and entertainment center in the village of Pidhaitsi, near Lutsk. A noble cause – let old people buy goods locally, and let young people enjoy intellectual entertainment. But soon it turned out that he was a peculiar master of his word: if he wants to – he gives, if he wants to – he takes back. The whole subsequent story truly became like entertainment for the Melnyk family: each supposedly had their own role in a talentedly staged performance. One gets the impression that its directors were specialists not only in business matters but also in legal problems.
Whose property is it? Back in 1998, "Olvid" LLC appeared in Pidhaitsi, whose founders were the Melnyk couple. It was precisely this company that was granted a land plot on which objects appeared – the administrative building and the workshop. The company was driven to bankruptcy, but the constructed objects did not suffer – for some reason they were not on "Olvid's" balance sheet.
In 2002, the company "Olvid-bud" arose, whose founders became the couple's son and the wife's own sister, and Viktor Melnyk was appointed general director. In 2004, evidently, the company had matured for large-scale projects and the aforementioned objects were finally registered with the BTI as property of "Olvid-bud" LLC. On the personal application of Viktor Melnyk, based on the decision of the executive committee of the Pidhaitsi village council, chairman Vitalii Semeniuk issued a certificate of ownership for the administrative building and carpentry workshop to "Olvid-bud" LLC. After this one could go with a suitcase to the bank for money...
After receiving the millions for the company's needs, the village chairman Vitalii Semeniuk – whom, by the way, everyone in Pidhaitsi calls Mr. Melnyk's good friend – suddenly cancels the previous decision, because "the circumstances had not been thoroughly clarified," the case had been considered "hastily, without proper verification," in short, they made a mistake. Although the impression is that the "mistake" was planned.
On June 5, 2004, a general meeting of founders takes place (that is, the son of the Melnyk couple and Natalia Oleksiivna's sister) and at the request of Viktor Hryhorovych he is dismissed from the post of general director, and financial director Halyna Lushnikova is appointed in his place. It is interesting where the "general meeting" took place and whether the company had a lot of fun recalling the two-million credit it had taken.
Now Viktor Melnyk has no relation whatsoever to "Olvid-bud" LLC and, when any claims are made against him, promises to go to court over insult to honor and dignity. And indeed, 99 percent of the charter fund belongs to the son. By the way, the whole family is registered in one residential building.
And what about the shopping and entertainment center, where the millions were supposed to be used? Strangely enough, the land plot for the center was far-sightedly registered in the name of Natalia Melnyk; invoices for receiving construction materials were also issued in her name at the beginning. Just think how a husband would have to keep the agreement with the bank secret so that his wife wouldn't know what money her own construction was being carried out with.
So, it seemed only a formality remained: to divide the pledged objects between husband and wife and annul the agreement with the bank. The trial drags on for a long time; the plaintiff Natalia Melnyk is in no hurry. Either she won't come to the court hearing, or her representative won't, and Viktor Melnyk himself cannot be dragged by the leash to meet Themis. Now again the general director of the LLC, Halyna Lushnikova, who in court actually acts not as a representative of the company she heads but as a defender of the Melnyks, is preparing to travel to the Far East for family reasons. She says she will go by train all the way to Khabarovsk itself, because "planes crash." And without her the case won't move. They are in no hurry because, apparently, they believe the case has worked out. Although lawyers maintain that according to the civil code, the land plot that was granted back in 1998 to "Olvid" LLC does not give rise to citizens' ownership rights to the administrative building. Therefore, the objects do belong to the company. By the way, the land tax under the objects was paid not by the Melnyks but also by "Olvid-bud" LLC.
Here a logical question arises: how did Melnyk manage to gain the trust of the banking structure? After all, as has now become clear from informed sources, Mr. Melnyk has created conflict situations in his business activity more than once. However, it is appropriate here to recall the saying: how can you not give to one who knows how to ask! And it was not just anyone who tearfully asked for the credit, but Viktor Melnyk, a deputy of the regional council, repeatedly confirming his status with his deputy's ID. And he supposedly was not asking for himself but trying for the people. The bank's leadership sent a letter to the regional council with a request to influence the actions of the voters' elected representative. And for now, based on the fact of fraud with financial resources, the prosecutor's office of Lutsk district has opened a criminal case. Less than three months remain until the end of the term stipulated by the agreement for the full repayment of the two million hryvnias and payment of interest...
Oleksandr NAHORNYI