President of the Commercial Court Mladen Grdinić will decide on the dismissal of the judge Nemanja Popović from the procedure in which the Revenue and Customs Administration (UPC) requests the introduction of bankruptcy in the company "Vektra Boka" owned by a businessman Dragan Brković.
The request for the exemption of Popović was submitted by the lawyer of "Vektra" at yesterday's hearing. Ranko Grbavac.
He said that Brković provided more than 30 million euros through a business partner, and that he will settle the claims of UPC and OTP Bank from that amount, in a separate dispute. He said that they received a guarantee for more than 19 million euros and a letter of intent of 11 million euros, which is why they are asking for the hearing to be postponed for a month in order to pay UPC's claims and complete the procedure.
Lawyer UPC Anka Medojević she pointed out that both the court and UPC should have been informed about this earlier and that she believes that the proposal was submitted to delay the procedure. She left the decision to postpone the hearing to Judge Popović.
Grbavac explained that the documents were not submitted because the business partner "Vektra Boka" submitted the letter of intent on November 22, and the confirmation of the money on November 30, and that the documents are in English and Arabic.
Popović rejected the proposal of "Vektra Boka" to postpone the hearing, which is why Grbavac submitted a request for his exemption from the proceedings.
In April 2022, UPC submitted a proposal to the Commercial Court to initiate bankruptcy against the bankrupt debtor "Vektra Boka".
UPC, as a creditor, submitted a proposal based on Article 177 of the Bankruptcy Law, which allows creditors to request the introduction of classic bankruptcy through bankruptcy if the bankrupt debtor does not act according to the plan or acts contrary to the reorganization plan, which has the force of a court decision.
Due and unpaid liabilities to the Revenue Administration, as defined by the Reorganization Plan, amount to 1,028 million euros.
Current and former employees would benefit from the transition of "Vektra Boka" to classic bankruptcy, because all their claims would be in the first payment line and they would have priority in collection, because now some of their claims are only in the third payment line. The Revenue Administration would also benefit because it would be able to collect its claims faster.
"Vektra Boka" has been in bankruptcy through reorganization since September 2016. This form of bankruptcy means that the bankrupt debtor is given the opportunity to pay his obligations through a court-determined payment plan to the debtors in precisely determined terms. In this case, the plan stipulates that the company can sell a part of its assets in order to periodically and gradually pay off the obligations to the workers and debts for taxes and contributions. "Vektra Boka" requested an extension of repayment of its obligations, but the court recently rejected that request.
Despite the sale of property worth around ten million euros, "Vektra Boka" did not pay the obligations to workers in the amount of around 250 thousand euros, as well as for taxes and contributions in the amount of slightly more than one million euros, in the stipulated time. "Vektra Boka" lent part of the money from the sale of assets to other companies owned by Brković or members of his family.
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