Primorye Court Orders Vostok-1 to Pay 37.6 Billion Rubles, Voids Fishing Quota Contracts

Overview

• The Primorsky Krai Arbitration Court fully upheld the Prosecutor General’s lawsuit, ordering recovery of 37,628,130,000 rubles with immediate execution and granting a month for appeals.
• Agreements allocating shares of fishing quotas between the Federal Agency for Fisheries and Vostok-1 were declared null and void.
• As security measures, the court arrested all movable and immovable assets of the company, and a separate order had already barred operation of its vessels during the case.
• The suit names the CEO, members of the Shegnagaev family, founder Yakov Shevchenko, and foreign firms including Global Seafood Corporation, North Pacific Corporation, and Oriental Pacific Co. Ltd, with prosecutors also seeking the transfer of certain shares to the state.
• In a parallel development, the court returned Vostok-1’s bankruptcy petition for lack of the required public notice, noting the company may refile after correcting the deficiency.