MOSCOW, July 14 (RAPSI) – Russia’s Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA), established to pay out deposits in the event a bank goes bankrupt, filed a claim in the Moscow Commercial Court seeking 1.7 billion rubles (about $24 million) from former co-owners of Premier Credit Bank. 

There are 21 persons on the DIA’s list who allegedly controlled the bank whose banking license was revoked by the regulator in July 2017. Later that year the Moscow-based credit institution went bankrupt. 

According to the financial statements, as of 1 June 2017 Premier Credit Bank ranked 369th by assets in the Russian banking system.

“The high-risk credit policy pursued by Premier Credit Bank Inc. led to the emergence of grounds in its operations for regulatory measures to be taken to prevent its failure (bankruptcy), and put its creditors’ and depositors’ interests under real threat. Besides, due to the loss of liquidity the credit institution failed to timely honour its obligations to creditors,” the Bank of Russia said. 

Reports of suspicious financial activity at Premier Credit Bank were filed in the Prosecutor General's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee.