Smart Maritime Group Claims Raider Seizure of Its Assets is Prepared

23.03.2017

Smart Maritime Group, which combines two shipbuilding yards in Nikolaev and Kherson regions, claims a raider seizure of its assets using unlawful decisions in the framework of a criminal case fabricated by the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine is being prepared.

According to some available information, the first step was the seizure of 82 property items, which were acquired by SMG from the bankrupt enterprise Nikolaev Machine Building Plant (NMZ) at the open auction and are now used in the production process of Nikolaev shipyard. The criminal proceedings with respect to the alleged misuse of property and securities of NMZ, which took place in 2009, were initiated despite the fact that there are no victims and damage to state interests under this case.

Today, this property becomes an "entry point" to SMG for raiders. To ensure execution of the court's ruling on the arrest, most likely, the property will be transferred to some entity or company for safe custody.

SMG team is ready to defend its rights by all legal methods and is preparing to give a fitting rebuff to raiders whoever they involve and whoever they hide behind since the interests of more than 1,300 workers and employees of Ukraine's largest shipbuilding holding company have been threatened.

The court's ruling violates the rights of SMG as a bona fide purchaser, creates direct risk to the production activity of the shipbuilding holding company and also calls into question the timely fulfilment of obligations to contractors, staff and budgets of various levels. The amount of taxes and fees paid by SMG for 2016 totalled UAH 74 million, including UAH 23 million paid to local budgets.