The court dismissed the case against Nikolai Shavrin
During the court hearing, the prosecution announced its conclusion, which showed that from January 1, 2017 to March 25, 2019, the participants of Godovalov LLC with 50% shares each, Andrey Godovalov and Nikolay Shavrin, "actually performed management functions equally." The prosecutor believes that, despite the declaration in the constituent documents of the distributor as the sole executive body of CEO Godovalov, the actual highest executive body of the company during the period of the alleged commission of the crime was "the council of the sole participants of the company, represented by Shavrin and Godovalov."
The prosecutor's office representative also claimed that the defendants, being interested in reducing Godovalov LLC's expenses for mandatory tax payments and insurance premiums, "decided to use a scheme to withdraw revenue from the generally established tax system by creating a formal document flow for the retail sale of medicines." The formation of a network of controlled legal entities and individual entrepreneurs using a simplified tax regime led to an unjustified underestimation of VAT and insurance premiums payable by the company, the prosecution believes.
During the court hearing, Shavrin's defense submitted a motion to suspend the consideration of the criminal case on the grounds of the expiration of the statute of limitations: January 15, 2025 for violations in the payment of insurance premiums, March 25, 2025 for the payment of VAT. The court made a positive decision on non-rehabilitating grounds.
The thematic proceedings in court were initiated on the basis of the indictment of the Perm Krai Prosecutor's Office by the Kirovsky District Court of Perm, but in June 2025 the latter sent the case for consideration to the Simonovsky District Court of Moscow, in connection with which the territorial jurisdiction also changed. The first hearing in the capital's court took place at the end of August 2025. Then Shavrin's lawyer submitted a motion to the court indicating procedural errors in the course of forming the indictment and noting that the investigation had not proven Shavrin's involvement in the financial management of Godovalov LLC.
In particular, the defense drew attention to the fact that the crime imputed to Shavrin was committed by the "sole participants" of the authorized capital of Godovalov LLC with equal shares, while, according to the lawyer, Federal Law No. 14-FZ "On Limited Liability Companies" never contained the possibility of such legal entities having "several sole participants." "The text of the resolution contains mutually exclusive statements that Godovalov was the sole executive body, and that the sole executive body was two individuals or a council of sole participants that did not exist either de jure or de facto," the defense emphasized at the time.
The court, however, did not satisfy the appeal, citing the fact that the actual consideration of the criminal case had not been initiated. As a result, the court postponed the hearing to September 12.
The initiation of a criminal case against Godovalov and Shavrin became known at the end of January 2025. In March, the Dzerzhinsky District Court of Perm arrested Andrei Godovalov in absentia for two months (in the event of his actual detention).
The financial difficulties of the assets associated with Andrey Godovalov and Nikolay Shavrin began in 2022. Then the Federal Tax Service charged legal entities VAT for 2016-2018, as well as insurance premiums, penalties and fines totaling almost 700 million rubles. In response to these actions, the founders of the pharmaceutical distributor Godovalov and the Apteka ot Sklada chain initiated legal proceedings with the tax service, which, in turn, led to conflicts between Godovalov and Shavrin with creditors and suppliers. In July 2023, bailiffs seized the property of the pharmaceutical distributor Godovalov in the amount of 183.7 million rubles.
The liquidation process of the legal entity "Godovalov" was initiated in October 2023. In early 2024, the arbitration court declared the distributor bankrupt and began proceedings against the legal entity to sell its property with subsequent liquidation. In 2024, the owners of the company - Godovalov and Shavrin - were also declared bankrupt.
At the end of August 2024, it became known that 32 real estate properties of debtors would be sold for a total of 433.8 million rubles. The most expensive property on the list was declared to be a warehouse complex in Perm.
At the same time, the total debt obligations of the pharmaceutical distributor Godovalov were estimated at 7 billion rubles. The total debt of entrepreneurs and OOO Godovalov to creditors is at least 12.5 billion rubles.
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