MOSCOW, March 1 (RAPSI) – Promsvyazbank and UniCreditBank have filed applications with the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region seeking more than 2.7 billion rubles ($36 million) from former executive of JFC company Vladimir Kekhman in bankruptcy case, according to court records.

Promsvyazbank asked to enter 1.7 billion rubles ($22 million) in debt into the list of creditors, UniCreditBank demanded in the motion to collect 1 billion rubles ($14 million) from Kekhman. Applications will be considered on April 21.

Kekhman earlier filed an appeal with the Thirteenth Commercial Court of Appeals against a court ruling to introduce a procedure of debt restructuring against him on the claim of Sberbank. The Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region included a claim by the bank for more than 4.3 billion rubles ($57 million) on the creditors’ list. Bankruptcy hearing has been scheduled for May 19.

Interestingly, London's High Court ruled that Kekhman was bankrupt in October 2012. By the time he presented a debtor's petition seeking a bankruptcy order his assets consisted of £200,000 in cash, land in St Petersburg valued at £4.3 million, a Mercedes-Benz in Russia and a Bentley in France. He had 19 unsecured creditors totaling about £316 million located in Russia and 23 bank accounts, three of which were arrested.

Kekhman is currently leading Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater and is holding a position of the St. Petersburg’s Mikhailovsky Theatre's artistic director.

Established in St. Petersburg in 1997, JFC Group comprises fruit production, procurement, storage, distribution, and sales companies. Its ultimate holding company is JFC (BVI) Limited, which operates through companies in Russia, the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Luxembourg and Panama. JFC Group filed for bankruptcy in March 2012 and consequently entered a period of supervision. By that time its debt claims amounted to a total of 18 billion rubles ($237 million).