MOSCOW, August 29 - RAPSI. On September 24, the Moscow District Federal Commercial Court will review Sodexim's appeal of the dismissal by a lower court of its $56.5 million claim against the Finance Ministry, the court spokesperson told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com).

Sodexim has said that the claim resulted from an Algerian debt settlement with the Soviet Union.

Sodexim was already awarded $43.4 million in debt compensation against the ministry in this regard in 2010.

In March, the court dismissed the claim because the plaintiff failed to prove the existence of this remaining debt and the statute of limitations had expired.

The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals upheld the court's ruling in June. In the cassation review, the federal arbitration court will check the legality of the lower courts' decisions with a view to correct application of substantive law and procedural requirements.

In 1996, Sodexim won a tender to sell Algerian goods as a part of a debt settlement program. Algeria was expected to pay its debt by selling goods in Russia via the plaintiff. However, Sodexim never received the goods, as Algeria cut off its supplies to the country.

The plaintiff said it accrued $80.8 million in liabilities. In response to Sodexim's initial filing of its debt claim against the Finance Ministry, the Moscow Commercial Court ordered in November 2010 that the Finance Ministry must refund the $43.4 million that Sodexim had transferred as a guarantee payment, including $24.24 million in principal debt and interest. Sodexim filed this second claim in an effort to recover the remaining amount.

The defendant has denied the claim. The ministry maintains that the sum in question is "not a debt per se," because the money transferred by Sodexim has already been paid back.

Former Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak managed Sodexim's debt repayment. In November 2007, he was charged with organizing a group that sought to embezzle federal budget funds masking the losses as compensation for Sodexim. Investigators dropped the case in February 2011.