Almost 5 Million Sought from Scandalous Developer Volakh – If He Can Be Reached
The Economic Court of Brest Region satisfied a claim to hold businessman Ilya Volakh subsidiarily liable for the obligations of his affiliated LLC "General Contractor", writes Office Life.
It has been decided to recover almost 4.8 million rubles in unpaid debts to creditors from the developer who fled Belarus. The court concluded that the businessman deliberately encumbered the company's assets with pledges and drove it into bankruptcy.
The claim was filed by an anti-crisis manager with the support of the Kobrin District Tax Inspectorate. The court ruled that the company's insolvency resulted solely from Volakh's fault, as he effectively controlled the enterprise through his affiliated structures.
The case materials indicate that the company's property assets were lost as a result of illegal actions and through the direct fault of Volakh, the former director of "Zhylbudkomplekt," rather than through ordinary commercial risks. It was established that from May 2016 until the end of November 2020, the businessman ensured that funds raised for the construction of a facility were spent on purposes unrelated to its erection.
According to the court's decision, Volakh abused his powers as a founder and official, and deliberately created conditions under which "General Contractor" assumed the collateral risks of "Zhylbudkomplekt" without having the actual ability to fulfill those obligations.
At the time the bankruptcy proceedings began, LLC "General Contractor" owned 25 real estate properties. However, these were encumbered by a pledge related to "Zhylbudkomplekt's" housing bonds. Later, the Investigative Committee seized this real estate as part of a criminal case, effectively freezing the assets. The anti-crisis manager was unable to auction them off and settle with the budget and other creditors.
The court recognized a direct causal link between the businessman's actions and the harm caused to creditors as fully proven.
The decision was also based on the conclusions of the conviction from the Leninsky District Court of Minsk. In May 2024, Ilya Volakh was found guilty of abuse of power and causing property damage. For stealing money from shareholders of the notoriously known unfinished construction project "Hrušaŭski Pasad" — residential buildings on Dziaržynski Avenue and Ščorsa Street — the businessman was sentenced in absentia to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of 200,000 rubles. As a result, over 400 citizens and seven legal entities were affected.
Before this, Volakh had managed to flee to Poland, where he obtained citizenship and changed his surname to Slakatovich. Belarus failed to secure his extradition. Later, information emerged that he got involved in the restaurant business in Poland, but failed and is now suing his former subordinates. This spring, it was reported that Ilya Volakh opened the American Elite School in Warsaw, but this also turned out to be a shady affair.
The company "Zhylbudkomplekt" was liquidated in 2025. Several other business structures associated with Volakh also underwent bankruptcy and liquidation procedures.
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