MOSCOW, March 15 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court has granted a €1.5-million lawsuit filed by Yelena Gorbunova, the partner wife of deceased tycoon Boris Berezovsky, against ex-assistant of the businessman Raphael Filinov, the woman’s attorney Sergey Krivosheyev has told RAPSI.

Filinov has been ordered to pay Gorbunova €850,000 in debt, interest on loans worth €793,000 and compensatory interest for wrongful use or retention of funds estimated at €55,700.

The plaintiff has won the case despite the absence of the loan agreement’s originals, the lawyer has noted. The loan has been confirmed by the agreement’s copies, the fact of transfer of sums and other evidence, he has added.

According to case papers, in 2010, Gorbunova lent Filinov €850,000 eventually deposited to the Metropol bank accounts. When Berezovsky died, the woman demanded the money back from Filinov but he repeatedly refused.

In 2017, Berezovsky’s partner wife filed a lawsuit with Moscow’s Golovinsky District Court seeking to collect the debt from the businessman’s assistant. Initially, the court dismissed the claim, but the Moscow City Court overturned this ruling and ordered a retrial.

After the case reconsideration, the district court rejected Gorbunova’s demands. However, the Moscow City Court vacated the lower court’s judgment and granted the plaintiff’s lawsuit.