The other day, the Moscow Arbitration Court reported that the number of disputes about non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of obligations under contracts increased by 64.6% (2008/2007), so it is expected that the number of bankruptcies will also increase this year.
Alexander Shugaev, a lawyer at Levant and Partners, recalls that in 2009 the bankruptcy procedure will take place in accordance with the new edition of the Federal Law “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)”. The law takes into account the interests of creditors to a greater extent than before. Thus, according to the current version of the Law “On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)”, the creditor has the right to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against the debtor immediately after the decision of the court, arbitration court or arbitration tribunal to recover funds from the debtor has entered into legal force. According to the previous version of the Law, bankruptcy proceedings were allowed to be initiated after 30 days from the date of entry into force of the court decision. However, bankruptcy proceedings can be initiated by both authorized bodies and the debtor himself, reminds Alexander:
“For a debtor, often the best way to maintain control over property is to independently apply to an arbitration court with a request to initiate bankruptcy proceedings,” Alexander believes. “If creditors initiate bankruptcy first, the debtor will have much less ability to manage assets and less chance of saving the business as a whole.”