ST. PETERSBURG, April 25 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court has registered three lawsuits for a total amount of $121 million filed by several banks against Cargo JFC, part of Russia's major fruit importer JFC.

Sberbank is seeking to recover 3.1 billion rubles ($105.2 million) from the defendant, while Raiffeisen Bank has lodged two lawsuits for 317.6 million rubles ($10.7 million) and 147.3 million rubles ($5 million) respectively.

In addition, on June 5 the St. Petersburg Commercial Court will hear another lawsuit filed by Sberbank against Cargo JFC for the recovery of $47.7 million.

Cargo JFC's parent company JFC has been named a third party in the case. It is currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. A credit watch was placed on the company in March.

According to the court documents, the defendant acknowledged debts of over 15 billion rubles ($509 million) as of February 16, 2012.

In late February JFC said that the credit watch was necessary for protecting the interests of creditors and for the company to continue its business.

JFC claims its financial difficulties are a result of the trouble in the global market.

JFC general director Vladimir Kekhman plans to resolve the company's financial situation within the next three months and revive its business potential.

Established in St. Petersburg in 1994, the JFC Group comprises fruit production, procurement, storage, transportation and sales companies. It owns around 3,000 hectare banana plantations in Ecuador and Costa-Rica. JFC states it is the largest fruit supplier on the Russian market.

JFC has offices in St. Petersburg, Moscow and other Russian cities, as well as in Cyprus, Ecuador and Costa-Rica. It has a staff body of 3,600. JFC sells fruit in Europe, Middle East and the CIS.