MOSCOW, April 11 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court has suspended until May 22 its hearing of an investment company's lawsuit to invalidate loan contracts worth $379 million signed between the Luxemburg-based Yukos Capital S.a.r.l. and Yuganskneftegaz.

The lawsuit was filed by the Vesta investment company, a Rosneft shareholder.

According to Vesta, the loans were issued to Yuganskneftegaz in violation of the law. The contracts were signed in July-August 2004 and were to be repaid in 2007.

The lawsuit was submitted against Yukos Capital S.a.r.l. and Rosneft, which later took over the former YUKOS subsidiary Yuganskneftegaz.

Vesta seeks to declare the loan contracts null and void. It maintains that the deals were bogus and aimed to cover up the transfer of funds illegally confiscated from Yuganskneftegaz to Yukos Capital S.a.r.l in the form of a loan.

On Tuesday, the plaintiff submitted to the defendants and to the court a list of explanations where it set forth more arguments to prove its case.

The court postponed the hearing after Yukos Capital's lawyer said he needed time to look through the documents and build the company's case and prepare questions.

The lawsuit was submitted in 2007, but its consideration was suspended until the end of the criminal case against former YUKOS head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev.

In late 2010, a Moscow district court sentenced both men to 14 years in prison for oil theft and money laundering. They were expected to be released in 2017, taking into account the time they had already served for their convictions from their first trial in 2005. However, on May 24, the Moscow City Court reduced their sentences by one year. Now they may be released in 2016.