Ural-Invest tries to protect itself from recovery of money

Ural-Invest, from which AFK Sistema tries to recover 70.7 billion rubles of damages from the loss of Bashneft, has begun the process of its own bankruptcy. The company says that it is not able to pay the debt. As a result, the process of Sistema’s obtaining money can be delayed.

Yesterday, the Commercial Court of Bashkortostan registered application of Ural-Invest, controlled by the family of the former head of the republic Murtaza Rakhimov, for bankruptcy. As representative of the company lawyer Sergey Makarenko explained to the Kommersant, the reason for the suit was the lack of money to pay off the debt to AFK Sistema. The latter tries to recover from the company, from which it bought the shares of Bashneft, 70.7 billion rubles. The AFK’s lawsuit was satisfied in mid-February. Details of the Ural-Invest’s application weren’t disclosed by Mr. Makarenko, but he acknowledged that meeting of the company’s requirement will allow it to delay the payment to Sistema. "In any case, the Ural-Invest’s funds are under a double arrest - as on the criminal, as on the arbitration proceedings, which deprives the company an opportunity to manage money," - said the lawyer.