MOSCOW, June 3 (RAPSI) – The Supreme Court of Russia has denied a cassation appeal by board chairman of New Stream oil and gas company and former co-owner of troubled Antipinsky refinery Dmitry Mazurov charged with embezzlement seeking to review his 28 billion-ruble debt (over $370 million) to Sberbank, according to court records.

In late January, the Moscow District Commercial Court upheld a 28 billion-ruble debt (about $370 million) of Mazurov to Russia’s Sberbank. The debtor failed to challenge the Moscow Commercial Court’s ruling of July 24 and an appeals ruling of November 5, 2020, when the courts granted a claim of Sberbank Capital to include the debt in the creditors’ list.

In mid-June 2020, the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals declared Mazurov bankrupt. The ruling was delivered upon an application filed by Persit Services Inc.  Its 2.08-billion-ruble claim was included in Mazurov’s creditor demands list.

Earlier, the Moscow City Court upheld detention of Mazurov in on embezzlement allegations. The businessman was arrested on July 13, 2019, on suspicion of embezzling 1.8 billion rubles (around $25 million at the current exchange rate) from Russia’s Sberbank through default on a loan given to one of his companies. A felony complaint was filed by Sberbank and Antipinsky refinery, in construction of which Mazurov was involved in 2004 – 2019. Mazurov pleads not guilty.

Antipinsky is a private, not a state-run refinery which capacity exceeds 9 million tonnes per year. The refinery occupies its rightful place among the largest players of the Russian oil refining industry, forming the Urals and West-Siberian oil refinery market, and is known abroad, the company’s official website says.

In December 2019, the enterprise was declared bankrupt.