By Douglas Busvine, Reuters

* Exiled former CEO defends lending practices

* Says VTB exaggerated bad loans at Bank of Moscow

* Loan that financed stake sale well secured – Borodin

MOSCOW, Aug 30 (Reuters) – The former head of Bank of Moscow MBMM.MM has denied defrauding Russia’s fifth-largest bank, saying the $14 billion bailout it received was in reality intended to save its suitor, state-controlled VTB (VTBR.MM).

Andrey Borodin dismissed allegations by VTB and the Russian authorities that he improperly lent billions of dollars to firms he controlled — loans that went bad after he was ousted, forcing the central bank to launch the record rescue last month.

Borodin, who fled Russia at the end of March and is wanted by a Moscow court on an international warrant, told Reuters that VTB had sought to depict Bank of Moscow’s financial condition in the worst possible light to conceal its own balance-sheet woes.

Read full article here.Reuters, Business FM