Remuneration of the investigator in bankrupt. Analysis of current judicial practice on establishing interest remuneration

The article is devoted to the analysis of the situation of assessing the remuneration of an arbitration manager in case of bankruptcy of legal entities and individuals. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the accrual of remuneration to the arbitration manager during bankruptcy procedures with companies with significant assets, which leads to a high percentage premium in the remuneration of the manager. The analysis of two court decisions issued by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on May 5, 2023 was carried out. The author notes that, despite the fact that bankruptcy legislation does not establish other conditions for receiving interest by arbitration managers, except for the share of repayment of creditors’ claims, the highest court decided that the percentage of remuneration is a bonus that is due to the manager only with the maximum efficiency of his work, and not for the simple performance of duties. But in the legislation on bankruptcy there are no conditions that allow limiting interest, except for the amount of repayment of creditors’ claims. It is concluded that judicial precedents have been created that will affect the further practice of proceedings of arbitration courts in bankruptcy cases when determining the remuneration of the manager. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation continues to develop the line that the remuneration of an arbitration manager should be correlated with the volume and quality of his work. The position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation increases the risks of corruption in the judiciary due to the subjective assessment of the amount of remuneration of the arbitration manager. In addition, there is no reverse position fixed by law, when the work of a manager could be evaluated above the established normative limits. Therefore, the existing remuneration system, under which the starting conditions (the bankrupt’s property, the ratio of his debts and assets) affect the remuneration of the arbitration manager much more than his procedural activity, needs to be revised, and not at the level of judicial practice, but in the legislative order.