The Moscow Times

Police on Thursday searched the central office of real estate firm Inkom in connection with an investigation into the theft of 550 million rubles ($17 million) at formerly city-owned Bank of Moscow.

Uniformed officers armed with submachine guns arrived at the Moscow office Thursday morning in search of documents linked to “an employee of the company,” Konstantin Popov, formerly head of Bank of Moscow’s audit committee, Inkom Real Estate spokesman Anton Gololobov told Interfax.

Interfax Europe
Andrei Borodin, former president of Bank of Moscow, officially declined on Wednesday to comment on allegations in the media that the British government has refused to grant him asylum.

“Following recommendations from his lawyers, Andrei Borodin will not comment on recent rumors to the effect that he has been denied political asylum,” said a one-sentence statement on Borodin’s official website, www.andrey-borodin.com.

Interfax: Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire

Bank of Moscow (RTS: MMBM) could retain Ernst and Young as auditor to Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) for 2012, the bank said.

Ernst and Young was hired in November 2011. The bank had been audited by BDO since 2003.

Shareholders will be asked to approve the auditor at their annual shareholders meeting on June 4.

Interfax: Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire

VTB Group (RTS: VTBR) paid 251 billion rubles to consolidate 94.85% of the shares in Bank of Moscow (RTS: MMBM) (BOM), VTB’s deputy CEO Herbert Moos said on Wednesday.

“We paid 251 billion rubles for a 94.85% stake [in Bank of Moscow]. At the same time, the current value of its capital comes to 173 billion rubles. Therefore, we purchased this bank at a multiplier of 1.45,” he said.

Interfax: Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire

Bank of Moscow (RTS: MMBM) had net profit of 5.107 billion rubles to Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) in 2011, compared with losses of 50.125 billion rubles in 2010, the bank said in a report.

Mikhail Kuzovlev, the bank’s CEO, had said he expected 5.7 billion rubles profit.

Pretax profit was 8.182 billion rubles last year, compared with 48.263 billion rubles loss in 2010, the report said.

The bank plans to pay dividends for 2011. The annual shareholders meeting will decide on the amount.

The bank said interest income fell 21.1% last year to 59.8 billion rubles and net interest income 30.1% to 27.7 billion rubles.

Prime News

Russia’s Bank of Moscow, which ranks among the country’s top five lenders, saw its overdue payments surge to 169.9 billion rubles in 2011 from 28.3 billion rubles a year earlier, as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS), the bank said in a report Monday.

FT.com

A Russian court refused on Thursday to free three members of a women’s punk band who sang a protest song against Vladimir Putin in a cathedral, despite calls for their release by activists and backers who scuffled with police at the hearing.
The three have been in detention for weeks over Pussy Riot’s performance in short dresses and bright masks, which offended Russian Orthodox believers but also ignited a debate on church-state relations.

RAPSI

A court of appeals will hear on May 16 Premier Estate’s appeal against the $450 million collection for the Bank of Moscow from Premier Estate and TD Ramenskaya.

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

The Bank of Moscow granted a loan to Cyprus-based Premier Estate in 2009. TD Ramenskaya acted as the guarantor. The loan was set to be repaid in October 2015.

Prime News

Russia’s Bank of Moscow has failed to sell its 43.8% in Estonian bank Eesti Krediidipank to Swiss company RLS Finanse as the buyer had not been cleared by the Estonian regulator, Bank of Moscow’s CEO Mikhail Kuzovlev told reporters Thursday.

“The Swiss company has failed to meet part of the conditions of our contract, it did not receive an approval by Estonia’s regulator, and after that did not pay for this contract,” Kuzovlev said.

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.