MOSCOW, September 2 (RAPSI) – The Khimki City Court in the Moscow region has extended seizure of IKEA household goods retailer’s land plot with an area of more than 16.5 ha valued at approximately 975 million rubles ($15 million) until November 30, RIA Novosti reported on Friday.

Thus, the company is prohibited from pledging, change, donation, selling and disposal of the plot in a different way during this period.

The land plot was seized as a part of a large scale fraud case earlier launched against managers of the Swedish company.

In April, media reported that a criminal case had been opened against top managers of the Swedish concern IKEA on suspicion of large scale fraud. According to police, IKEA managers used forged documents to acquire title to a land plot with an area of more than 16 ha belonging to Collective agricultural enterprise “Khimki” (formerly called Collective farm “Way to Communism”). IKEA allegedly entered into conspiracy with a head of Khimki town to commit the crime.

Interestingly, allegedly forged documents used by IKEA for closing of title to the disputed area and presentation in courts were dated to 1993 but contained references to events happened later.

IKEA is one of the world's largest retail networks selling furniture and household items. It operates 14 IKEA outlets in Russia. The first IKEA store opened in Russia in 2000. The projected investments to commission Mega trade and entertainment complexes amount to $120-$300 million on average.