MOSCOW, January 9 (RAPSI) – Russia’s Supreme Commercial Court has declined to reconsider a lower courts’ ruling dismissing Lithuanian company Plastima’s lawsuit seeking the recovery of over EUR 2 million from Russia’s largest bank Sberbank, RAPSI learned in court Friday.

Plastima received a EUR 2.5 million guarantee in 2009 from its trade partner, Kaliningrad-Promplast, as security for a polymer supply contract. The guarantee was issued by Sberbank and delivered to Lithuania's SEB Bankas through the SWIFT system.

As the buyer has not paid for the goods supplied in full, the seller asked for a payment from Sberbank. However, the Russian bank rejected the request. A lawyer representing Sberbank said during proceedings in court that the guarantee was issued without due authorization through a fraudulent scheme and that an investigation has been opened against Igor Poltavsky, the bank employee who executed the transaction.

The Moscow Commercial Court dismissed the lawsuit against Sberbank in June 2013. At the same time the court granted a counterclaim brought by the Russian bank seeking to invalidate the guarantee in question.  The judgment was later upheld by the appellate court.

The lawyer acting for Plastima said during the proceedings that papers operated through the SWIFT system are deemed to be verified and Sberbank failed to provide a proper security check.