COURT RULES NTV BRANCH PAY $16 MLN TO FINANCE MINISTRY








MOSCOW, March 13. /Natalia Byrkina, RIA Novosti Correspondent/. The Federal Arbitration Court of the Moscow District has rejected the appeal filed by the company Bonum 1 against paying $3.7 million and $12.7 million in two lawsuits filed by Russia's Finance Ministry.


	Way back in 1997 and 1998, Bonum 1 had taken out four privileged loans from the Finance Ministry to buy and launch a space satellite to broadcast NTV Plus programs. Early in 2000, the company stopped paying and the Finance Ministry filed a lawsuit.


	Last October and November, the Moscow Arbitration Court ruled on Finance Ministry's four suits that a total of about $30 million be recovered from the debtor. Bonum 1 used its legal right to appeal the ruling in the court. The higher court, however, upheld the ruling. Now a court of even higher resort, namely the Federal Arbitration Court of the Moscow District, has also upheld the ruling.


	Sources in the Finance Ministry disclosed that Moscow Court Marshals Service is engaged in additional litigation to recover the sum sought from the debtor. The accounts of Bonum 1 have already been arrested.