MOSCOW, May 13 (RAPSI) – Transaero air carrier employees have asked the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region to recover a wage debt from the former airline’s CEO Alexander Burdin charged with non-payment of salary totaling to 400 million rubles (over $6 million), according to court records.

The court will hear the application on June 18.

Burdin acted as Transaero CEO from late 2015 to September 2017 and headed the company after revocation of the air carrier’s flying license.

On August 28, 2018, a Moscow court arrested Burdin in absentia.

According to investigators, ex-Transaero CEO has embezzled over 1.3 billion rubles (about $20 million) and has not paid wages to employees for well over two months. As a result, a salary debt to nearly 7,000 employees reached about 400 million rubles. The defendant has pleaded not guilty.

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.

The Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region declared Transaero air carrier bankrupt in September 2017.