MOSCOW, September 5 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court dismissed Sergei Devyatkin's suit to nullify transactions in which Bank of Moscow stock owned by the city of Moscow was transferred to VTB Bank, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com).

VTB, Moscow's Property Management Department and Central Fuel Company acted as co-defendants.

Devyatkin's lawyer said his client sought to contest the transactions as they affect his rights as a possible bidder for the purchase. Devyatkin was acting as a private individual and holds no stock in VTB or in the Central Fuel Company or Bank of Moscow, added the lawyer.

The plaintiff is challenging two consecutive transactions: the contribution of the shares to the company's charter capital by the Property Management Department and the subsequent sale of the shares to VTB. In addition he has requested that the shares be privatized.

Devyatkin believes the transactions are sham. The shares should have been disposed of through a bidding process. However they were sold to a predetermined purchaser. VTB, 50-percent owned by the state, had no right to buy the shares through a bidding process by law, this is why the scheme was applied, added the plaintiff.

Moscow Deputy Mayor Natalia Sergunina stated on February 22, 2011 that the Moscow government sold its 46.48 percent stake in the Bank of Moscow and 25 percent plus one share of the Capital Insurance Group, which held 17.32 of the shares in the bank, for 103 billion rubles ($3 billion). The price was 14.4 percent higher than the official appraisal value.

According to Sergunina, the shares were first contributed to the groups charter capital and their sale to VTB was completed on February 22. The group was fully owned by the Moscow authorities.