Court: Ave-Matrox Insolvency Administrator Dismissed With Reason | Business

On April 24, the Court of Appeal of Lithuania rejected the appeal of the dismissed administrator Arūnas Virkutis and upheld the ruling of the Kaunas District Court dated March 13, 2024, by which he was dismissed from the duties of the company’s bankruptcy administrator.

“In the case under consideration, there are doubts about the bias of the appointed administrator and possible interest in the outcome of the case due to the activities of the insolvency administrator as a lawyer representing the former manager of “Energijos kodas”, the court said in the ruling.

According to the court, A. Virkutis terminated the representation contract with the former head of the company “Energijos kodas” when he was appointed as the insolvency administrator of “Ave-Matrox”, and when giving consent to administer it, he was aware that “Ave-Matrox” was the largest “Energijos” code” creditor.

A. Virkutis told the court that the biggest creditor of the company, which owns 90% part of all financial requirements, is not the “Energy Code”, but the State Tax Inspectorate (VMI). According to him, the amount of VMI’s financial claim amounts to 4.35 million. euros. In addition, in the “Energy Code” case, the company was represented by the professional association of lawyers “Martovičius ir Damušis”, and not by himself.

“During the filing of the bankruptcy case for “Energijos Kodas”, she was represented by the professional association of lawyers “Martovičius ir Damušis”, and he (A. Virkutis – BNS) did not represent the former manager of “Energijos Kodas” (…), therefore he is not aware of the conflicting situations discussed in the statement” , – in the ruling, the court mentioned the arguments of A. Virkutis.

A. Virkutis also added that the request for his dismissal was submitted by the lawyer of the former head of Ave-Matrox, one of the richest businessmen in Lithuania, Kęstutis Stragis, who at the same time represented the company.

“Since (…) (lawyer – BNS) is a person interested in the outcome of the case, there are reasonable doubts about the representative’s bias and conflict of interest when submitting a statement on behalf of him (K. Stragio – BNS) regarding the dismissal of the insolvency administrator, taking into account the fact that in the statement factual circumstances that do not correspond to reality and statements that denigrate the name of another lawyer were presented”, said A. Virkutis.

At that time, Ave-Matrox stated to the court that a conflict situation arose between it and “Energijas kodo” even before the filing of bankruptcy proceedings, because the actions of “Energijas kodo” possibly caused the filing of the company’s bankruptcy proceedings.

“A. As soon as he was appointed to administer Ave-Matrox, Virkutis realized, or should have realized, that there was an obvious conflict of interest,” explained Ave-Matrox.

“The basis for the dismissal of the insolvency administrator is sufficient to state only the doubts about his impartiality,” the court decided.

Ave-Matrox’s bankruptcy case was filed by the Kaunas District Court on January 25. According to the court ruling, at the end of November last year, the company’s assets were valued at 2.6 million. EUR, and short-term assets, debts and liabilities to creditors – 5.2 million. euros.

Last December, the Court of Appeal of Lithuania stated in another case that more than 3.8 million The bankrupt fuel trader “Energijos kodas” owes the excise company “Ave-Matrox” EUR 100,000 – such an amount has not been paid for the years 2017-2022.

The bankruptcy case was filed against Ave-Matrox, which has been operating since March 1994, at the request of its director K. Stragis, who led the company since its foundation in 1994.

“Ave-Matrox” manages the 27.8 thousand in Jonava. light oil products terminal with a capacity of cubic meters. The company announces on its website that one of its clients is the Finnish fuel producer Neste.

In 2022, Ave-Matrox received 718.6 thousand EUR income – 36 percent. less than in 2021 (1.1 million euros) and suffered 68 thousand. EUR loss (earned EUR 51.5 thousand net profit in 2021), according to the reports submitted to the Center of Registers.

The sole shareholder of the company is Matrox Holding, a corporate management company registered in Luxembourg. According to the Luxembourg registers, the members of the board of this company are its shareholder K. Stragys, Vytenis Junevičius (former head of the company “Britanika”) and Raymond Henschen from Luxembourg.

According to the “Top” magazine, which publishes the list of the 500 richest people in Lithuania, K. Stragys in 2019 with 52 million took 92nd place in the ranking with assets worth EUR. He figured in the history of the privatization of the Lietuvos kuras company, in addition, according to the media, in 2011 he acquired 80% of the company. shares of the unfinished Kaunas hotel “Britanika”.

According to the data of the Register Center, from April 2023, K. Stragys is the sole shareholder of Britanika. He is also the owner of real estate agency RE Experts.