MOSCOW, April 23 - RAPSI, Diana Gutsul. The courts have suspended the hearing of Transparency International Russia's lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice until June 13, the plaintiff's representative Anton Filin told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com).

In April 2011, after finding evidence of corruption, Transparency International asked the ministry for its assessment of the draft law on amendments to the public procurement legislation. However, the ministry refused the request, alleging that the information is private and confidential, Filin said.

He stressed that in fact the organization is entitled to ask for this information as it is not considered a state secret.

Transparency International lodged a lawsuit against the ministry in July 2011. The case was then submitted to the commercial court, but was later transferred to the Moscow Zamoskvoretsky District Court after the plaintiff proved that the dispute is not subject to the commercial court jurisdiction.

Public procurement crimes caused a loss of over $221.52 million to the budget in 11 months of 2011, according to a previous statement by the deputy head of the Investigative Committee, Vasily Piskaryov.

During that period investigators opened 461 criminal cases regarding public procurement offences. Over 130 crimes involve purchases under federal medical programs.