MOSCOW, January 16 - RAPSI. The court will hear on February 16 the Bank of Moscow's $428.8 million lawsuit against its debtors, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) reports on Monday.

The lawsuit was filed on December 7.

The Bank of Moscow granted a loan to Premier Estate in 2009.

Ramenskaya, which is associated with Yelena Baturina's Inteco, was a guarantee for the loan contract. The loan maturity date has been extended several times.

According to the latest agreement, the loan was to be repaid in October 2015. However, the bank had to file a lawsuit, as Premier Estate has defaulted in its debt repayment since last January 2011.

The bank's representative said the lawsuit is not linked with a criminal case also involving Premier Estate.

The Investigative Department opened a criminal case against former Bank of Moscow President Andrey Borodin and his deputy Dmitry Akulinin in late 2010. Borodin and Akulinin were charged with embezzling 12.5 billion rubles ($392.1 million) from the Moscow budget through a loan to Premier Estate.

Prior to granting the loan to Premier Estate, the bank issued new shares worth 15 billion rubles. The stake was purchased by the Moscow government, the bank's majority shareholder.

Premier Estate used the funds to purchase a 58-hectare land plot in Moscow. Investigators say the bank's personnel were aware of the false information that the borrower submitted about the pledge to secure the loan.

Investigators believe the bank's staff knew Premier Estate provided false information about the pledged property, but misled the bank's management when assessing the repayment risk.

Inteco, which was earlier owned by Yelena Baturina, Russia's richest woman and the wife of ex-Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, said the deal in which Premier Estate bought the plot on the west of Moscow from Inteco, was legal.