Court rejects expert study of Rosneft’s evidence in Sistema case

MOSCOW, Jul 18 (PRIME) -- The Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow has rejected a request of multi-industry holding Sistema to hold an expert check of evidence provided by oil major Rosneft against the company under a 170.6 billion ruble suit, according to information obtained by PRIME in the court on Tuesday.

In June, the Arbitration Court of the republic of Bashkortostan incorporated correspondence of former owners of oil company Bashneft into the case that the claimant thinks proves its claim that Sistema violated the legislation and inflicted financial damage to Bashneft during reorganization. Sistema said that notarial actions on verification of the correspondence had been done with numerous violations and it cannot be considered as proof.

The court denied Sistema’s request for the expert study of the evidence.

A Sistema representative demanded recusal of the judge. “We have doubts in neutrality of a judge who denied our request for the expert study and ignores the position of a notary officer who doesn’t even come to court hearings,” the representative said.

Rosneft filed the suit in May, seeking to recover a loss stemming from alleged asset withdrawal from Bashneft in 2009–2014 by Sistema.

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