MOSCOW, April 23 (RAPSI) – The Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region has put a stay on a VTB bank’s 249.2 billion-ruble ($4 billion) lawsuit against Transaero air carrier’s founder Alexander Pleshakov, his wife and mother, RAPSI has learnt in the court.

The claimant has demanded to recover the said sum from Pleshakov and members of his family

In early April, the court rejected an application filed by Transaero’s bankruptcy supervisor Alexey Belokopyt demanding recovery of nearly 81 million rubles (about $1.2 million) from ex-airline founder Alexander Pleshakov and his family. The supervisor asked the court to quash the transactions related to the payment of Transaero dividends in 2013 and return the funds plus interest to the bankruptcy estate charging the money from Pleshakov, his mother, wife Olga and two daughters.

In early March, the court dismissed two other claims lodged by Transaero’s bankruptcy supervisor Alexey Belokopyt seeking to collect over 20 million rubles (about $300,000) from Transaero ex-top manager Olga Pleshakova. The applicant asked the court to invalidate certain transactions carried out by the former director as the operations in question were made immediately prior to Transaero bankruptcy.

Earlier, Belokopyt demanded to recover about 81 million rubles (about $1.2 million at the current exchange rate) from the company’s ex-founder and his family.

The supervisor asked the court to quash the transactions related to the payment of Transaero dividends in 2013 and return the funds plus interest to the bankruptcy estate charging the money from the former founder of the company, his mother, wife and two daughters.

Transaero found itself unable to pay its debts valued at 250 billion rubles (about $4 billion) in 2015. The government-approved plan of transferring 75% of company’s shares to Aeroflot failed. Its problems resulted in a large number of flight cancels and delays.

In October 2015, Sberbank and Alfa Bank filed bankruptcy petitions against the troubled airline. The Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region initiated bankruptcy procedure against Transaero on December 16.

On September 13, 2017, Transaero was declared bankrupt.