MOSCOW, July 9 (RAPSI) - The Moscow Commercial Court has upheld a claim by BVI-registered Daizon Management Inc to collect $18.3 million from Sergei Polonsky's Potok & 0458 (formerly Mirax Group), RAPSI reports from the courtroom on Tuesday.

The plaintiff sought to recover the funds in accordance with the investment contract which the developer had allegedly failed to repay. Meanwhile, the defendant insisted that the contract had not been properly formalized; furthermore, the contract is still valid, which means there is no reason to repay the investment at this stage.

The court has also scheduled the hearing of another lawsuit against Polonsky's company for September 17. A bankruptcy lawsuit against Potok & 0458 was filed by the AK Design and Production Company. It was stated in court that on June 26, Potok paid AK 3 million rubles ($90,040) out of its 32.6 million ruble ($978,390) debt. The two sides are now in talks on the full repayment of the debt.

Mirax Group (later renamed Potok8) was founded in 1994. The real estate developer's major projects include the Federation Tower in the Moscow City center and luxury residential neighborhoods in central Moscow.

In early March 2011, Mirax founder Polonsky told journalists that he had left the business and that the company's board of directors had decided to close the Mirax brand. At the same time the company pledged to fulfill its obligations to complete its ongoing projects, including the Federation Tower, several residential buildings, the Kutuzovskaya Milya cooperative residential construction project, several parking garages in central Moscow and a fitness center.

Later Polonsky was officially charged with embezzling over 5.7 billion rubles ($176.2 million) from Kutuzovskaya Milya investors.

Last December, Polonsky was involved in a fracas in Cambodia, when he and two other Russians allegedly attacked the six-person crew of a boat ferrying them from a Cambodian island to Sihanoukville. The sailors later dropped the charges.

Polonsky and two other Russian nationals, Konstantin Baglay and Alexander Karachinsky, were arrested on December 31. Baglay and Karachinsky were released on bail on March 11, 2013.

On April 3, Polonsky was released from the Cambodian prison but was barred from leaving the country. He later reportedly traveled to Israel. On June 20, lawyer Diana Tatosova said Polonsky is hoping to become an Israeli national.