Point of law: does a sentence of a criminal court have prejudicial force (res judicata) for commercial courts, provided that the commercial dispute is between legal entities, whereas the criminal sentence has been passed with regard to a natural person who headed the branch of the plaintiff company?

Ratio decidendi: the Presidium quashed the decisions of lower courts and reiterated its view that the decisions of general courts by which a transaction has been deemed to be a fictitious one, must be binding upon commercial courts – such transaction cannot be subsequently reassessed by them as valid.

Practical consequences: the Judgment says that prior court decisions in analogous cases if inconsistent with this interpretation may be reversed in the procedure and within the limits envisaged by Art 311 of the Commercial Procedure Code.