However, Barková decided not to leave her defeat alone and called a press conference the day before the meeting of creditors. And she openly admitted that the timing of the media event was aimed at attacking the position of the strongest creditor, Iceberg Comp, and thereby influence the balance of power at the creditors’ meeting. According to its registered claim, Icebrg Comp was one of Malina’s suppliers. He is now the leading creditor of the firm. At the same time, he heads the provisional creditors’ committee.
“At Iceberg Com, we did not find the documents and materials for it to be a creditor. And since he is the main creditor, we are worried that people will not lose the chances to get back their finances or the goods they have paid for. It’s not right, and the insolvency administrator and the public prosecutor should focus on it,” said Barková.
However, Iceberg Comp objected to Barková’s claim. “As part of the insolvency proceedings, Iceberg submitted all relevant contracts, transport documents, handover protocols, storage documents and relevant invoices. This information is also available to the current representatives of the debtor, who recognized Iceberg’s claims subject to a partial denial in the range of several million crowns, which mainly concerns the issue of the exchange rate difference,” responded Iceberg’s lawyer Petr Sprinz from the Resolv office.
“From the minutes of the meeting of the creditors’ committee, it is clear that Iceberg acted very cautiously towards the debtor, similar to the other members of the creditors’ committee,” added lawyer Sprinz.
Fight for votes
The skirmish over the biggest creditor’s claim is important because of voting rights at the creditors’ meeting. The voting power at the meeting of creditors depends precisely on the size of the claim. One crown equals one vote.
Libuše Barková is a businesswoman with a controversial past. She became known, among other things, as an actor in the case of former prime minister Stanislav Gross. She was also legally convicted of insurance fraud. In addition, she became famous as the owner of a house with a brothel.
However, even Lubomír Podlipný from the Iceberg company does not have a history without controversy. 10 years ago, he was legally sentenced to six years in prison for tax evasion in liquefied gas deals. In previous years, Iceberg dealt with plans for the construction of housing for the elderly as well as the supply of antigen tests in the time of covid. The company does not operate any real offices at its address, nor does it have a website.
Expresser help
During the current “attack” on Podlipné, Barková also mentioned his alleged close relationship with the former main shareholder of Malina, Cyril Regner. The proof should be, among other things, Podlipné’s ties to the Rychloservis company operating on the market under the RS Energy brand.
“The Iceberg company was involved as a supplier of components and all along supported the plan to complete the photovoltaics for customers, including the support of RS Energy, which presented a specific plan to complete the installations to all Malina customers,” said Iceberg’s attorney Sprinz.
Barková and her company got into Malina on the basis of a close relationship with former Prague mayor Pavlo Bém, whose son Jáchym Bém was a minority shareholder of Malina. Misura signed a contract with Malina in May just before the insolvency proceedings began.
Libuše Barková’s company, on the other hand, claims that its operation in Malina was successful for solar suppliers. According to information from Malina’s original crisis management, 600 orders have been completed since the insolvency began. The volume of liabilities to clients decreased by 180 million crowns. Malina, on the other hand, collected 124.5 million crowns for completed orders.
Malina supplied households with solar power plants. Thanks to the great demand for photovoltaics and an aggressive campaign, it collected around 1.4 billion crowns from several thousand people in deposits. Now the company is trying to complete the orders and solve the high debts. The case is also being investigated by the National Center against Organized Crime.
