306Lastly, the Commission states that the Land of Thuringia is wrong to claim that it cannot require recovery from CDA and LCA of the aid which was paid directly or diverted to the Pilz Group. It observes that that aid came to be applied within the range of activities of the joint venture or its successors, even if it was subsequently rechannelled immediately towards other companies within the Pilz Group. According to the Commission, it does not matter in that regard that the aid did not actually benefit the joint venture. In Case C-24/95 Alcan Deutschland [1997] ECR I-1591, the Court held that the objection based on the fact that the gain no longer exists is not a valid reason to object to the recovery of aid. It submits that the Court's reasoning can be applied to a case such as this one, where the mechanisms for the transfer of assets within a group of undertakings were virtually intended to eliminate the gain from the balance sheets of the initial recipient of the aid. It submits that, in such a case, account cannot be taken of the objection that the gain no longer exists and, on the contrary, the illegal advantage must be attributed to the undertakings in the group which initially received the aid intended for them. Likewise, it submits that the TIB and the associated undertakings can also not rely on that objection, since the rechannelling of the aid by the Pilz Group may also be attributed to the joint venture and its successors.
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