MOSCOW, April 10 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court will hear two lawsuits filed by Moscow-based AMT Bank against The Kolpino Logistics Park on May 31. The bank is seeking to recover 65.7 million euros and 1.648 billion rubles ($55.6 million).
The defendant's representatives failed to attend the hearing. In its statement regarding the 65.7 million euro claim the bank said that Kolpino was granted a 40 million euro loan in October 2008. The loan was to be repaid on April 12, 2009. The company partially repaid the principal debt but failed to meet its obligations in full. The bank consequently sued the defendant for 34 million euro for the principal and interest on the loan. Concerning the other claim, the plaintiff said they were seeking to recover 823 million rubles ($27.7 million) in principal debt and interest under another loan which was not repaid on time.
The bank told the court that it had notified the defendant about the payment periods. However, the notification letters were sent back stating that no such recipient was located at that address.
The Kolpino Logistics Park near St. Petersburg was established by Eurasia Logistics. The size of the park is roughly 580,000 square meters. Eurasia Logistics is a major Russian industrial and warehouse property developer owned by Kazakh businessman Mukhtar Ablyazov. It is part of the Eurasia Investment and Industrial Group. It has implemented the A-class Kolpino project since 2005.
AMT Bank (previously known as BTA Bank) is a multipurpose financial institution with 9 branches and 26 offices. According to the RIA Analytics Economic Research Center, AMT was ranked 71st in terms of assets as of April 1, 2011.
The Moscow Commercial Court upheld the Central Bank's petition for ATM Bank's bankruptcy in October 2011. The Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) was appointed to act as the receiver of the failed bank. The Central Bank revoked AMT's license in July for forging account data. The banks deposit portfolio amounted to 15 billion rubles ($499.41 million). According to the DIA, it will pay a record 13 billion rubles ($432.82 million) to AMT's depositors.
According to information on the bank's website, Ablyazov directly holds 19.7 percent of the credit institution. Ablyazov has been living in the United Kingdom since 2009. The police opened a criminal case against him on suspicion of fraud and withdrawal of funds through shell companies.