MOSCOW, May 3 - RAPSI, Sergei Feklyunin. The Ural District Federal Commercial Court left in force the lower court's decision to recover $213.6 million from former Maxi-Group top manager Nikolai Maximov, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Thursday.

The Sverdlovsk Region Commercial Court dismissed on December 23 the UralSnabKomplekt bankruptcy administrator's request to hold former Maxi-Group managers Maximov and Sergei Mironov liable for 6.3 billion rubles ($213.6 million) as part of the company's bankruptcy proceedings.

UralSnabKomplekt, the largest Max-Group debtor, went bankrupt in February 2009. Its bankruptcy administrator discovered that the company entered into several economically nonviable transactions in 2006-2007, which resulted in a 6.4 billion ruble ($216.5 million) debt.

The administrator stated that the "funds came from different Maxi-Group enterprises and the same day were forwarded to the accounts of entities outside the group controlled by Maximov."

The debt to the Maxi-Group enterprises was never paid, the court stated. Eventually, both Maxi-Group and UralSnabKomplekt, which was burdened by the debt, suffered losses. Ultimately, UralSnabKomplekt could no longer service its debt, the bankruptcy administrator said.

Maxi-Group is a major steel products manufacturer in Russia.