MOSCOW, August 29 - RAPSI. The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals has set September 19 as the date to hear the appeals by Pin Telecom and Leasing Group Industry (LGI) against a ruling requiring them to pay $29.5 mln in favor of Sberbank, the court spokesperson told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com).

The Moscow Commercial Court has ordered PiN Telecom and LGI to pay Sberbank savings bank a total of 958.4 million rubles ($29.5 million) according to loan agreements, although initially the bank sought 969.8 million rubles ($29.8 million).

This is the largest of the lawsuits which Sberbank filed against PiN Telecom and LGI. In total they amount to 1.275 billion rubles ($39.84mln) and regard the recovery of loans.

The LGI's representative has disputed the amount of debt owed to Sberbank. The court put PiN Telecom into administration in June after the company filed for bankruptcy.

PiN Telecom is a communications services provider in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region. Its fiber-optics network stretches to more than 2,000 kilometers. Its clients include circa 3,500 entities and over 170,000 individuals.