MOSCOW, March 15 - RAPSI. The Supreme Commercial Court has invalidated the contract under which the Defense Ministry sold 11,000 square meters of shore land to TransStroy, the court told RAPSI on Wednesday.

According to the lawsuit, on September 17, 2010 the Defense Ministry sold military property comprising a 49,000 square meter land plot to TransStroy.

The Military Prosecutor of the Western Military District filed a lawsuit with a commercial court, arguing that parts of the land plot sold under this contract constitute elements of the shipway of the Big Neva, which cannot be privatized. The court has determined that TransStroy subsequently sold the 49,000 sq m land plot to the Novy Dom Company, and as a result, the land has been divided in two parts, 37,400 square meters and 11,000 square meters.

The decision to sell the land plot was made by then Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov at the recommendation of his aide Yevgenia Vasilyeva, reports Kommersant newspaper. Both are being investigated for abuse of office.