MOSCOW, February 6 - RAPSI, Natalia Belova. A federal commercial court has upheld the dismissal of an iron and steel works' lawsuit to recover $19.2 million from former Maxi-Group top managers, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com).

The Moscow Commercial Court held against the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works' (NLMK) lawsuit against Nikolai Maximov and Alexander Loginovskikh on May 23. An appeals court supported the judgment, which then entered into force in September.

According to NLMK, its lawsuit stemmed from a contract between Maxi-Group and Alfa- Bank, in which the bank agreed to provide equity sale consultation services to then-President Maximov.

The defendants contested the argument, maintaining that the services were rendered to Maximov in his capacity as Maxi-Group president and caused no losses to the company.

In addition, the defendants argued that NLMK was not a Maxi-Group shareholder on the date when Alfa-Bank's contract was signed, and therefore the lawsuit was groundless.

The court judgment also referred to the expired statute of limitations.

Alfa-Bank acted as a third party in the case.

A commercial court dismissed in July another 235.026 million ruble ($7.7 million) lawsuit against the defendants. The decision went into force in October.

The Moscow Commercial Court declared Maxi-Group bankrupt in August and put it into bankruptcy administration.