MOSCOW, January 13 (RAPSI) - The Ninth Commercial Appeals Court has upheld a previous court decision granting the recovery by Russia's FinTrade company of EUR 2.35 million from Latvia's Air Baltic Corporation (airBaltic), RAPSI reported from the courtroom Monday.

The court thus rejected an appeal filed by airBaltic. The decision took legal effect.

Initially, Investbank filed a lawsuit against airBaltic. On Monday, the court granted the substitution of plaintiff in the case because the bank's license has been revoked. Investbank assigned the receivables to FinTrade.

The bank signed loan agreements worth €2.1 million and €9.9 million with Baltijas Aviacijas Sistemas (BAS) in 2011.

The first loan was set to mature on July 4, 2012, and the second on June 29, 2012. The guarantor was airBaltic. BAS agreed to pay monthly interest, but the bank went to court, seeking early repayment after the payments stopped in November 2011.

Earlier, airBaltic alleged that the surety contracts in Investbank's case against the airline were forged. The airline said an internal audit was carried out and no contracts were found that identified airBaltic as a loan guarantor to BAS.

Meanwhile, Latvijas Krajbanka, a third party to the case, stated that it pledged for the loans and the liabilities under the loan agreements have already been fulfilled.
The Latvian bank's lawyer stated that Investbank withdrew over $72 million and €10 million from its corresponding accounts on November 25, 2011.

The bank asked Investbank why the funds have been withdrawn but received no reply. The bank thus appealed to the Bank of Russia, which said the funds were withdrawn to fulfill security agreements that possibly included the agreements with airBaltic.

The plaintiff's representative claimed that the funds could not have been withdrawn in November 2011 because the loan was not set to mature until summer 2012.