Developer appeals $468 mln award to Bank of Moscow in fraud case

RAPSI

The Moscow Commercial Court has registered the Premier Estate company’s appeal against the court decision awarding the Bank of Moscow $468 million in its lawsuit against the appellant and TD Ramenskaya.

TD Ramenskaya was part of Inteco, formerly owned by Yelena Baturina, Russia’s richest woman and the wife of Moscow ex-Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

The court held for the bank’s claim in full in February.

The Bank of Moscow granted a loan to Premier Estate in 2009. TD Ramenskaya was the guarantor. The loan maturity date was extended several times. Ultimately, the loan was set to be repaid in October 2015. However, the bank filed a lawsuit after Premier Estate defaulted in its debt servicing in January 2011.

The Investigative Department opened a criminal case against former Bank of Moscow President Andrey Borodin and his deputy Dmitry Akulinin in late 2010. Borodin and Akulinin were charged with embezzling 12.76 billion rubles ($432 million) from the Moscow budget through a loan to Premier Estate.

Premier Estate used the funds to purchase a 58 hectare land plot from Baturina’s TD Ramenskaya in Moscow. Prior to granting the loan to Premier Estate, the bank issued new shares worth 15 billion rubles ($508 million). The stake was purchased by the Moscow government, the bank’s majority shareholder.

Investigators say the bank’s personnel were well aware of the false information that Premier Estate submitted about the pledge to secure the loan.

Inteco insisted that the land purchase deal was valid.

Borodin and Akulinin are under investigation in another case that was opened this winter. Now, they are suspected of stealing 6.7 billion rubles ($227 million).