MOSCOW, September 19 - RAPSI, Sergei Feklyunin. The court dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by Marshall Capital Partners (MCP) founder Konstantin Malofeyev against the leading Russian financial institution VTB Bank and the Kommersant publishing house, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) reported on Monday.

VTB Bank is Russias second largest bank. The government holds a 75.5-percent stake in the bank.

MCP is an investment fund and the largest minority shareholder of Rostelecom with a seven-percent stake. The fund manages assets worth $1.5 billion. Malofeyev is considered the primary beneficiary of MCP and the aforementioned stake in Rostelecom.

The dispute concerns an article published in the Kommersant newspaper on June 3, 2011.

Malofeyev sought to recover $323,890 from VTB Bank and $32,390 from the newspaper and the article's author, as he believes the information cited in the newspaper is false.

The article described a lawsuit worth over $230 million that VTB Bank's London subsidiary VTB Capital plc submitted to London's High Court against Malofeyev, MCP funds and Nutritek International Corp.

The newspaper wrote that the lawsuit was submitted due to the provision of inadequate information during loan obtainment and allocation of funds for purposes dissimilar to those the fund initially stated.

Malofeyev owned 10 percent in Nutrinvestholding before this spring.