MOSCOW, February 3 (RAPSI) – A bankruptcy receiver of Transaero air carrier has filed an application seeking to bring a former CEO of the company Alexander Burdin to subsidiary liability on the airline’s obligations, according to the records of the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region.

Preliminary hearings are scheduled for March 10.

Earlier, the airline employees’representative Ruben Yablukov lodged a 249-billion-ruble lawsuit (nearly $4 billion) against Burdin.

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 mass 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.