Lokomotiv’s lawsuit against former club president and CEO Ilya Gerkus remains one of the main topics of the year in Russian football. Railroad workers demanded that their former leader recover damages worth nearly 145 million rubles. A preliminary hearing will be held on March 24.
In the meantime, the parties exchanged harsh statements. The first to speak about what was happening was the current CEO of red-green Vasily Kiknadze. According to the functionary, at the time of his arrival at Lokomotiv, the club had many problems.
“We paint the square, and we have hot water networks that lead to the boarding school that burst so that we have to change the 140-meter section from well to well. I see discussions related to the roof, while much more needs to be done to avoid the shameful incidents that almost happened at one of the matches due to worn-out systems. I see contracts to which I have questions, ”Kiknadze quotes“ Championship ”.
The Director General said that in the current situation he simply had no choice but to request an audit, a thorough audit of the club’s financial activities, as a result of which he had serious questions for Hercus.
“I have an audit act. If the court tells me that everything is clean there, then I will have questions for the audit. If the court confirms that the audit was right, then it was not in vain. For me, the only real mechanism in the legal field after the audit is only a court, nothing more, ”Kiknadze added.
After that, Herkus gave his comment on the situation, who previously preferred to remain silent and limited himself to a post on Instagram, in which he wrote that "he does not even recognize the theoretical possibility of any claims." This time he told in detail how events developed.
“In the summer, a letter from a certain Mr. Andreev came to my Petersburg address - a document called“ Claim ”. There were set out approximately the same points as subsequently in the lawsuit, only the amount was slightly different. To be honest, I doubted the authenticity of this document. The man claimed that he had a power of attorney from Lokomotiv, but no power of attorney was attached to the letter, ”said Herkus.
According to him, the author of the letter was immersed in the activities of Lokomotiv, but no one from the club called him or wrote to him.
“There is no power of attorney, but there were demands to return a lot of money in a month. In addition, there was no argumentation for these claims, there was a link to a certain audit, but the results of the audit itself with clear results were not attached, just a word. I replied, send documents with a power of attorney, clearly executed, we will talk. And on this the communication ceased. Silence. I also thought that this letter was some kind of accident and stupidity, ”cites the words of the ex-president of Loko R-Sport.
According to him, he was shocked when he found out that the club nevertheless filed a lawsuit against him, although he was "prepared for it." Herkus recalled that Kiknadze after joining Lokomotiv several times announced in the media his intention to meet with him and discuss all the controversial financial issues. According to Hercus, he called Kiknadze, but he did not answer either the call or the SMS.
“He did not answer, did not call, did not call - nothing. Silence. As from August until recently. There was nothing from Lokomotiv: no questions, no calls, no text messages. I was silent until the last moment and complied with all agreements on mutual respect. But now I have to tell you how things really were. The behavior and actions of the new leadership of Lokomotiv leave no other choice, ”Herkus emphasized.
The former railroad leader called the club’s claims “a list of far-fetched accusations” and even stated that the audit Kiknadze spoke of was apparently not carried out at all.
“The first point - I paid bonuses to myself, the second paragraph - paid bonuses to the club employees, the third - paid for the services of the company for helping to obtain citizenship for the player, and so on. And at the end of the letter, a demand to return 139 million rubles within 30 days. If you count this as questions, I did not answer them, I did not return the money. And no one would answer. There, it was not even clear who needed the money back; everything was weirdly worded. Some kind of "enterprise", without a name. Now a few words about the audit. He was absent. It is not true. The document that Lokomotiv appended to the lawsuit, and which Mr. Kiknadze now refers to in all the interviews, is not an audit report. This is a consultation, an essay, an essay, call it what you want, but not an audit report. The unsubstantiated unsubstantiated allegations made in arbitrary form. It cannot be referenced; it is illegal. For such "conclusions" it is necessary to deprive the license, "the functionary summed up.
120 million rubles for bonuses to top managers and 4 million for citizenship
Lokomotiv filed a lawsuit against the former president in late January. The club demanded that Hercus reimburse 144.6 million rubles. A bit later, the media reported the details of the claims of the railway workers. It is noted that most of the claimed amount allegedly amounts to a bonus of 120-125 million rubles, which the ex-CEO wrote to himself and other top managers for winning the Russian championship.
The remaining expenses were not so significant. For example, 4.7 million could be paid to attract an intermediary to terminate the contract with the former sports director of the red-green Igor Korneev. Another 4.03 million could go to a consultation on the issues of obtaining Russian citizenship by Serbian defender Nemanja Pejcinovic.
Herkus claims that the money went to bonuses to all club employees after winning the championship and cup of Russia.
“The administration also does a lot to win. Remuneration to the back office for the result of the team is absolutely normal world practice. And now Lokomotiv is demanding that money be returned from me, ”he said.
Interestingly, the statement was initially left without movement. This means that it was sued without compliance. It was reported that the club did not attach a notice of delivery of copies of the statement of claim to other participants in the case, and also did not pay the state fee. A later preliminary hearing was scheduled for March 24th.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the board of directors of Lokomotiv, Anatoly Meshcheryakov, to whom Herkus was accountable, already commented on what had happened.
“The situation with the lawsuit against Hercus is a legal issue, I don’t want to get into it. Let the lawyers understand. The audit company conducted a certain analysis of the activity and asked relevant questions. The club asked these questions to those who should answer them. Hercus did not follow up, so the club decided to file a lawsuit. Absolutely normal practice. How else to resolve such issues, if not in the legal field? ” - quotes Meshcheryakova RBC-Sport.
“Apparently, Kiknadze himself received from the shareholders”
What decision the court will make as a result is still unclear, however, Russian football managers are watching with interest. Former Spartak CEO Sergei Shavlo commented on what happened.
“I don’t know all the motives of Lokomotiv, but in my memory this is the first such situation when the club makes such claims to such a person. Apparently, some issues really arose, but they could be resolved without trial. It is difficult to say now what kind of relations Hercus has developed with the leadership of Russian Railways and what exactly they are dissatisfied with, ”the functionary noted.
He also spoke about the prize in the amount of 120-125 million rubles, which allegedly paid himself and other top managers of the Herkus club for winning the championship.
“Two million euros is a lot of money. I can’t even imagine such awards. If we consider that this amount was divided into a company of people, it still turns out a lot, because the club clearly does not have 20 top managers. Such a waste simply could not pass unnoticed by the board of directors. But everything is regulated by contract. If the contract of Hercus with the club provided for the opportunity to write himself and top managers a prize for the championship, then everything is clean. There may be a paragraph that says that with certain success it is possible. If he was not there, the higher management should decide, that is, the board of directors. Without his permission, it is impossible to make such a payment. But we don’t know what kind of contract Hercus had, nevertheless he was originally the president of the railway workers, and then became the general director, ”Shavlo explained.
He also talked about how audits are conducted in other RPL clubs.
“I can only say about my period of work at Spartak. With us they were held annually. No problems were identified, except for minor flaws. But still, Spartak is a private club, and in private clubs the owner controls all expenses and requires a report. And when the state club everything works differently, ”complained Shavlo.
Former president of Spartak Andrei Chervichenko said that the current leadership of Lokomotiv has no reason to intentionally complicate the life of Hercus.
“Apparently, Kiknadze himself received from the shareholders, after which an audit was conducted. I think that in this argument he has more arguments than Hercus. Today I read the answer of the latter and was somewhat disappointed. I was waiting for a loud performance, but I didn’t find any specifics, it’s just plain water, ”Chervichenko said in an interview with RT.
The former head of Spartak also spoke about the prize that Herkus allegedly wrote to himself for the championship.
“In fact, it is two million euros. If it is assumed that he wrote out such an amount to himself, it turns out a bit too much. If we are talking about a company of ten people, then it's okay when it comes to a club of this magnitude. I think that if you check in Russian clubs, then most of them can reveal serious problems, ”Chervichenko added.