MOSCOW, July 29 (RAPSI) – The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals has upheld dismissal of a bankruptcy application filed by Russia’s troubled Antipinsky refinery against New Stream oil and gas company chaired by the former co-owner of the refinery without prejudice, according to court records.

The refinery has thus failed to challenge the ruling of the Moscow Commercial Court delivered in June.

The applicant has not met obligatory requirements of the current bankruptcy law and therefore it has not received a right to seek  for the New Stream’s insolvency, the court held then.

In late December, the Supreme Court of Russia has refused to overturn a ruling declaring board chairman of New Stream oil and gas company and former co-owner of troubled Antipinsky refinery Dmitry Mazurov charged with embezzling 4 billion rubles (about $55 million at the current exchange rate) insolvent, according to court records.

In mid-June, the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals declared Mazurov bankrupt. The ruling was delivered upon an application filed by Persit Services Inc.  Its 2.08-billion-ruble claim was included in Mazurov’s creditor demands list.

In late April, the Moscow Commercial Court received an application from Sberbank against the debtor. The loan organization seeks to add a debt of Mazurov estimated at more than 128 billion rubles ($1.7 billion) to the creditors’ list.

Earlier, Promsvyazbank filed a claim to include in a creditors’ list a 22 billion-ruble (about $295 million) debt of Mazurov. In March, Absolut Bank and Credit Europe Bank lodged applications demanding 3.3 billion and 854 million rubles respectively from Mazurov. In February, Sberbank Capital filed a similar application demanding 28.45 billion rubles (about $450 million) from Mazurov.

On January 29, the court ruled to initiate the debt restructuring process with respect to Mazurov in favor of Persit Services Inc., which had the respective petition.

Earlier, the Moscow City Court upheld detention of Mazurov in a 1.8-billion-ruble (about 28 million) embezzlement case.

The businessman was arrested on July 13, 2019, on suspicion of embezzling 1.8 billion rubles (nearly $30 million) from Russia’s Sberbank through default on a loan given to one of his companies.

A felony complaint was filed by Sberbank and Antipinsky refinery, in construction of which Mazurov was involved in 2004 – 2019.

Mazurov pleads not guilty.

Antipinsky is a private, not a state-run refinery which capacity exceeds 9 million tonnes per year. The refinery occupies its rightful place among the largest players of the Russian oil refining industry, forming the Urals and West-Siberian oil refinery market, and is known abroad, the company’s official website says.

In December 2019, the enterprise was declared bankrupt.