The Moscow Arbitration Court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit against City Hall filed by exiled tycoon Shalva Chigirinsky's ST Development, which demanded 4 billion rubles ($132 million) for breaking an agreement on reconstruction of the Hotel Rossiya.
The decision comes as a separate suit filed by Chigirinsky concerning a dispute over a stake in Sibir Energy was halted in London after the sides agreed to come to a peaceful settlement.
ST Development, an investor in the project to demolish and reconstruct the Hotel Rossiya, formerly located across from the Kremlin, was forced to halt construction on the project in 2008 after demolition because the company fell into deep financial straits.
The developer filed lawsuits in December against Mayor Yury Luzhkov and his deputies, Vladimir Resin and Vladimir Silkin, alleging that the company hadn't been adequately compensated for work done on the Rossiya project.
The Moscow court on Friday rejected the suit after turning down a request by Chigirinsky to delay consideration of the case. The businessman's lawyers said Friday that City Hall hadn't provided a number of documents needed for the case to be considered, including a memo from the City Hall's road and bridge department, which specified the volume of expenditures.
City Hall's lawyers claimed that the company hadn't completed the work agreed to in its contract.
"Since the defendant acquired neither goods nor services under the terms of this deal, the defendant didn't receive the results of the work," a City Hall representative told the court, RIA-Novosti reported.
Lawyers of both City Hall and ST Development declined to comment on the issue. City Hall's construction department wasn't available for comment Friday.
Meanwhile, Kommersant reported Friday that Chigirinsky was working out a peaceful settlement for a dispute with Ruslan Baisarov over a 23.35 percent stake in Sibir Energy.
Chigirinsky formerly owned the stake along with his partner, Igor Kesayev. But when Chigirinsky had financial problems in 2008, Kesayev got a $250 million loan from Sberbank to assist his partner, and in exchange received Chigirinsky's stake as collateral.
After Chigirinsky stopped paying interest on the loan, the rights to it were sold on to Baisarov's Bronson Partners.
At the same time, Gazprom Neft started buying out all other major shareholders in Sibir Energy, with the exception of City Hall, which owns about 18 percent. When the Sberbank loan came due in October, Gazprom Neft paid up, in exchange for Chigirinsky's former stake as collateral.
Chigirinsky is contesting the transfer to Baisarov of his stake in Sibir, a stake that is now held as collateral by Gazprom Neft.
Lawyers from both sides have not commented on any deal.
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