The Prosecutor's Office of the Vitebsk region has generalized the practice of filing lawsuits and applications to economic courts

In order to ensure the proper organization of work on the exercise by prosecutors of the powers granted by law to participate in economic proceedings, the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office conducted an annual generalization of the practice of filing claims and applications to economic courts. 

In 2019, prosecutors of the Vitebsk region filed 305 claims (applications) with economic courts for a total amount of 9.8 million Belarusian rubles. At the same time, the possibilities of simplified court proceedings were actively used – claims in 233 cases (76%) were filed by prosecutors in the order of summary proceedings.

The main focus in claim work was on protecting the property interests of the state and society in the person of state-owned enterprises or enterprises with a significant share of state ownership in their property.

Based on a single claim filed by the prosecutor of Novopolotsk in the interests of OJSC "Stroitelno-Montazhnyy Trest № 16 g. Novopolotska", over 700 thousand rubles of debt under a construction contract were recovered from the successor of the customer. 

The prosecutor's intervention was due to the need to protect the interests of an enterprise with a predominant state ownership in the authorized fund and the public outcry surrounding the construction of the facility – an apartment building. Due to gross violations of construction standards by the original contractor, the construction of the facility was prohibited until additional design solutions were adopted. The new contractor had to eliminate the shortcomings and carry out reinforcement work on the building's structures. Despite the commissioning of the residential building, they did not receive full payment from the private developer for the work performed.

Prosecutors also took measures to protect the interests of agricultural enterprises and processing industry enterprises in order to compensate for damages caused by improper fulfillment of the terms of economic contracts.

Thus, the prosecutor of the Ushachi district, in the interests of OJSC "Demenets", filed a claim against a limited liability company that failed to fulfill its obligations for the supply of trailed agricultural rakes worth 25.6 thousand rubles. Payment

for the specified products was produced by the farm through a counter-supply of rapeseed back in the autumn of 2018. In conditions of a shortage of working capital, the additional diversion of assets into accounts receivable complicated the already difficult financial situation of the agricultural enterprise. The claims of the prosecutor were satisfied in full by the decision of the economic court of Minsk. The prosecutor of Polotsk district, in the interests of UP "Polotsk Dairy Plant", filed a lawsuit against the seller of rubber tiles and seamless rubber flooring purchased for the construction of a dairy farm in the settlement of Klyastitsy, Rossony district. During the operation of the goods, irreparable defects were identified – looseness and brittleness of the rubber tiles, due to which they actually became unusable. According to the terms of the settlement agreement, approved by the court, the defendant fully admitted the claims and undertook to return the paid cost of the goods in the amount of 50 thousand rubles to the plaintiff within three months. Last year, work continued on filing lawsuits to return foreign currency earnings to the country. In the interests of Belarusian supplier organizations, 6 lawsuits were filed to recover overdue foreign accounts receivable in the amount of 97 thousand Belarusian and 10 million Russian rubles. For example, the prosecutor of Vitebsk, in the interests of OJSC "Moloko", filed a lawsuit with the economic court of Vitebsk region to recover 6.3 million Russian rubles from a resident of the Republic of Kazakhstan under a contract for the supply of dairy products. Taking into account the payment of part of the debt by the defendant before the court decision, more than 2.8 Russian rubles were recovered from the counterparty. In the interests of OJSC "Polotsk-Steklovolokno", the prosecutor of Polotsk district filed a lawsuit against a business entity of the Russian Federation, from which, by court decision, penalties under the supply agreement in the amount of 600 thousand Russian rubles were recovered. Economic courts, based on the results of last year, considered and satisfied 264 lawsuits (applications) of prosecutors in the amount of more than 6.2 million rubles. From debtors

in a compulsory manner, 1.7 million rubles have already been recovered, and another 95 thousand rubles were paid voluntarily during court proceedings.

Ensuring the protection of the economic interests of society and the state does not lose its relevance and significance, in connection with which the work on exercising the prosecutor's powers in economic proceedings will be continued.

Deputy Head of the Department for Supervision of
Legislation Enforcement
and Legality of Legal Acts
of the Regional Prosecutor's Office
Dmitry Kudryavtsev