MOSCOW, August 26 (RAPSI) – Russian Trust Bank and Cyprus-based Belenfield Trade Limited said at a hearing in the Moscow Commercial Court that they had reached an agreement on the bank’s lawsuit filed to collect about 2.1 billion rubles ($30 million) from the offshore company, RAPSI reported from the court.

Belenfield Trade Limited told the court that it had paid 350 million rubles ($5mln) of its debt, which reduced the overall debt to 2.076 billion rubles (about $30mln). Trust Bank reduced its claim proportionately.

In its lawsuit, the bank was seeking 2.3 billion rubles in principal debt under a June 2014 loan agreement plus interest, as well as a penalty of 33 million rubles. The bank also requested that assets put up for collateral be confiscated.

Baltica Commercial Bank is a third party in the case.

Under the settlement, claims under 941 contracts, which the sides have assessed at about 1.5 billion rubles (over $21mln) in value, will be transferred from Belenfield Trade Limited to Trust Bank.

The court has delayed its approval of the out-of-court agreement until August 28.

Currently, the Moscow Commercial Court is hearing over a dozen of lawsuits filed by Trust Bank against foreign debtors to collect about 30 billion rubles and about $100 million.

Specifically, the bank is suing Baymore Investments Limited for 6.7 billion rubles, Edenbury Trading Limited (Bermuda Islands) for 5.6 billion rubles ($80mln) and TIB Investments Limited for $71.5 million.

None of the above lawsuits has been heard in court yet.

Midsized lender Trust Bank reported losses of 18.8 billion rubles (about $270mln) in 2014 amid the financial crisis. As of December 1, 2014, its assets were estimated at over 290 billion rubles ($4.1bln).

The Central Bank estimated that the bank’s debts exceeded the value of its assets by 67.8 billion rubles (about $970mln).

Last April, the Ministry of the Interior announced that it had opened a criminal case against several managers at Trust Bank.

Investigators claim that between 2012 and 2014, former deputy board chairman of the bank Oleg Dikusar, former Trust Bank CFO Yevgeny Romakov, and several unidentified persons allegedly forged loan agreements for over 7 billion rubles with several Cyprus-based companies, and for over $118 million with companies registered in other jurisdictions.

The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow extended detention for Dikusar, who is charged with embezzlement, until August 23. Dikusar may face up to 10 years in prison and is being investigated for involvement in several other crimes. The court also ordered that Romakov be held until August 24.