MOSCOW, October 24 - RAPSI. A court yet again had to postpone its hearing of a tax service's $478,680 lawsuit against businessman Shalva Chigirinsky for tax evasion as the defendant failed to appear before the court, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) reported on Monday.

A Moscow district court delayed the hearing until November 28 after it made sure Chigirinsky had not been duly notified about the trial.

The Federal Tax Service said Chigirinsky in 2009 filed his 2008 income tax returns to the amount of 14 million rubles ($446,769). However, he did not pay the tax so far. The tax service filed a lawsuit in April in order to recover the sum and 921,000 rubles ($29,400) in penalties.

Chigirinsky has not offered his comments on the matter yet.

Shalva Chigirinsky has been operating in real estate and oil sectors since 1990s. He has interests in Moscow-based Sibir Energy oil company and Russian Land Ltd real estate company. Russian Land was engaged in the construction of the Russia Tower in the Moscow International Business Center and site development in central Moscow instead of the demolished Russia Hotel.