MOSCOW, March 20 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court has suspended until March 26 the Sodexim company's $56.5 million lawsuit against the Finance Ministry.

Sodexim said the debt resulted from the settlement of Algeria's debt to the Soviet Union.

Sodexim won a tender in 1996 to sell Algerian goods as a part of the debt settlement program.

Algeria was expected to pay its debt by selling its goods in Russia via the plaintiff. However, Sodexim never received the goods as Algeria cut off supplies to the country.

The plaintiff said it obtained liabilities amounting to $80.8 million. In November 2010, the Moscow Commercial Court ordered the Finance Ministry to return $43.4 million that Sodexim had transferred under the contract as the guarantee payment, including $24.24 million in principal debt and interest. In its second claim, Sodexim seeks to recover the remaining debt.

Former Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak managed the debt repayment to Sodexim. In November 2007, he was charged with organizing a group that sought to embezzle federal budget funds under the pretense of compensating Sodexim for its losses. Investigators dropped the charges against him in February 2011.