MOSCOW, February 27 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court dismissed on Monday businessman Viktor Baturin's lawsuit to invalidate the sale of the Inteco development company.

Baturin, an Inteco co-founder, sought to invalidate the company's sale and to restore his 25-percent ownership of the firm.

Baturin's representatives failed to appear in court on Monday.

Inteco said Baturin failed to prove his shareholder rights during the proposed sale and also when filing his lawsuit.The defendant also explained to the court that during the period indicated by Baturin in the lawsuit shares in the company were not disposed of and his right could not have been infringed The company also maintains that it cannot act as the defendant in the lawsuit, as it is neither the owner, nor the seller, nor the purchaser of the shares.

Earlier, the court dismissed Baturin's request to introduce interim relief by seizing a 25-percent stake in Iteco and banning his sister and co-founder Yelena Baturina from performing any transactions with the shares.

According to Baturin's statement of claim made available to RAPSI, he and Yelena co-owned the company on a 50:50 basis, as indicated in the shares issuance report dated February 14, 2000.

In February 2007, he and his sister entered into a settlement agreement whereby he owned 25 percent of the company and his sister agreed not to dispose of Inteco shares without his consent.

In Baturins view, by selling a 100-percent stake in Inteco, his sister disposed of his shares, which she did not own. Therefore, he wants the transaction to be declared null and void.

At the pretrial hearing, Inteco alleged that the evidence in the case has been falsified, referring to a copy of the settlement agreement schedule between Baturin and his sister. According to Inteco, the original "is absolutely different."

Inteco is a diversified company and Russia's development market leader.

Yelena Baturina is Russia's richest woman and the wife of former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.