Penalties were released to the Catholic Church – Newspaper Kommersant No. 6 (7451) of 01/16/2023
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The Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal overturned the decision of a lower instance, according to which 931 million rubles should be recovered from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow. So much was demanded from the church by intermediaries from the Affordable Housing company, which had previously obtained in the courts the donation of four buildings of the ensemble of the Peter and Paul Church in the center of the capital to the archdiocese. In the course of litigation, the company even managed to evict the capital’s sports department from the buildings, preparing the buildings for sale. But Archbishop Paolo Pezzi changed his mind about selling the property, trying to challenge the contract with intermediaries, a participant in the church conflict explained.
Proceedings in the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal have been ongoing since November 2022. Earlier, the Moscow Arbitration Court satisfied the claim of Affordable Housing LLC against the religious organization Roman Catholic Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow. The court ordered the church to fulfill an agreement to pay the company 50% of the market value of four buildings of the ensemble of the Peter and Paul Church in Milyutinsky Lane in the center of Moscow. Taking into account the expert assessment of real estate, the arbitration decided to recover 931 million rubles from the Catholic archdiocese. On January 11, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal overturned this decision (while the operative part of the decision is ready).
The subject of the proceedings was the ensemble of the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Milyutinsky Lane in Moscow.
The main building of the temple was built in 1839-1845 by architect Alessandro Gilardi. At the end of the 19th century, an almshouse, a building of a charitable society, a building for a women’s school, a clergy house and a parochial school were erected near it. In 1933 the temple was closed; its building was first transferred to a cinema, and in 1946 – Giprouglemash Research Institute (now Giprouglemash OJSC; still owns the building).
In 2012-2013, Catholics unsuccessfully tried to return the main building of the church, based on the norms of the law “On the transfer of religious property to religious organizations.” In 2013, the archdiocese hired CJSC MPH Mosinvest-Sibir, which, having collected archival information, turned to a subcontractor, LLC Affordable Housing. In 2016, representatives of Affordable Housing, on behalf of the archdiocese (as the case materials say), filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court demanding that the Moscow Property Department transfer four buildings in Milyutinsky Lane (total area of 6.2 thousand sq. m.) to the church free of charge. In 2018, by a court decision, all buildings were transferred by the department of the church, and in 2019, the archdiocese concluded an agency agreement with Affordable Housing for their sale, follows from the litigation materials. However, in July 2021, the Catholics changed their minds about selling the acquired property, and Affordable Housing applied to the court to demand a commission for services.
The materials of the proceedings mention an agreement between “Affordable Housing” and tenants from “Mosinvest-Siberia”, according to which the commission for services can be paid both in real estate and in money – 50 percent of the market value of all four buildings of the temple ensemble. The last “Affordable Housing” was estimated at 931 million rubles, demanding through arbitration to recover these funds from the church, as well as 19 million rubles. additional compensation. In October 2022, the court decided to limit itself to recovering 931 million rubles from the archdiocese. This decision, in turn, was canceled by the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal.
It is noteworthy that in the course of the proceedings, the mediators managed to remove all encumbrances from the building of the temple ensemble and even evict the capital’s sports department from one of them through the court.
The lawsuit also states that a number of buyers have already been picked up on the buildings. Among them are the Higher School of Economics, the developer Hutton Development and the real estate agency Oxe Capital.
The Vicar General of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of the Mother of God, Priest Kirill Gorbunov, refused to comment on the Kommersant conflict. Previously, he did not deny the contractual relationship with Affordable Housing, but said that the company and the church understand the terms of the transaction differently, without specifying how. It is noteworthy that the litigation with intermediaries caused a split in the archdiocese. In 2021, the Chancellor of the Curia of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of the Mother of God, Priest Igor Kovalevsky, left Moscow. The cleric reported that, together with intermediaries, he represented the interests of the archdiocese in courts. According to Igor Kovalevsky, during the litigation for the buildings in Milyutinsky Lane, the archdiocese considered various options: “Leave one building, sell the rest, buy the church and pay off the company. Or sell all the buildings without redeeming the temple and pay off the company.
It should be noted that in the materials of the arbitration court there is a reference to the protocol of the Congregation for the Clergy of the Archdiocese, which in April 2020 is allowed to sell church property.
But in the end, according to Igor Kovalevsky, Archbishop Paolo Pezzi decided not to sell the buildings, in order to pay off intermediaries “to attract Italian investors”, after which he “withdrew all powers of attorney and contracts with the firm on buildings.”
At the same time, Mr. Kovalevsky claims that he was “made a scapegoat” in this story, after which he was forced to leave Moscow. Igor Kovalevsky did not answer calls and messages from Kommersant.
Alexander Pavlovsky, a partner at the law firm atLegal, says that the federal law “On the Transfer of Property for Religious Purposes to Religious Organizations” does not prohibit churches from selling property received free of charge “in accordance with the provisions of the statutory documents.” According to him, it follows from the materials of the arbitration court that, according to the charter of the archdiocese, the Congregation for the Clergy was an authorized body that allowed the disposal of property and the protocol of this organization would be “sufficient proof of compliance with the requirements stipulated by law for the procedure for the sale of real estate to a religious organization.”
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