Vitebsk Transport Prosecutor's Office in defense of the interests of legal entities

Obligations must be fulfilled properly… This phrase from Art. 290 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus could be a panacea for business entities. However, in practice, we observe the opposite, when the debtor evades the fulfillment of obligations in every way, and then, having passed the threshold of the pre-trial settlement of disputes, the business entity is forced to go to court. And if going to court is economically difficult due to the payment of state duty, then the prosecutor's office can help.

In accordance with Art. 27 of the Law "On the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Belarus", the prosecutor, in cases provided for by legislative acts, has the right to file a lawsuit in defense of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens, including individual entrepreneurs, organizations, public and state interests.

Thus, the Vitebsk transport prosecutor's office received an appeal from UP "Vitebsk branch of the Belarusian Railway" regarding the non-fulfillment of contractual obligations by UP "Vitebskvtormet". According to the terms of the concluded contract, UP "Vitebskvtormet" accepted scrap metal in the amount of 12850.0 tons, while payment for the delivered scrap metal was not received.

Based on the results of the inspection, the prosecutor's office, in accordance with the order production procedure, filed a claim with the Economic Court of the Vitebsk region in the interests of UP "Vitebsk branch of the Belarusian Railway" for the recovery from UP "Vitebskvtormet" of the principal debt, penalties, and interest. Taking into account the rather long period of non-fulfillment of obligations, the total amount turned out to be quite significant; in order to reduce court costs, at the request of the Vitebsk transport prosecutor, UP "Vitebskvtormet" paid the principal debt, although already after the application for debt recovery in the order production procedure was sent.

At the same time, the contract concluded between the business entities provided for additional liability for UP "Vitebskvtormet" in the form of penalties, which is also provided for by Art. 310 of the Civil Code. In addition, according to Art. 366 of the Civil Code, the possibility of recovering interest for

use of other people's funds due to evasion of payment. All these legal opportunities were used by UP "Vitebsk branch of the Belarusian Railway" when applying to the prosecutor's office.

Vitebsk Transport Prosecutor
Senior Justice Counselor A.A. Tsarikov