Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners has successfully represented Bank Saint Petersburg in a case against Russian entrepreneur Vitaly Arkhangelsky and Oslo Marine Group Ports LLC before the High Court of Justice. The Court ordered Oslo Marine Group Ports to pay St. Petersburg Bank over RUB 1.5 billion and dismissed the counterclaim of Arkhangelsky and OMG.
From 2006 to 2008 OMG Ports and Arkhangelsky borrowed more than RUB 14 billion from eight Russian banks, including Bank St. Petersburg. However, in 2009 OMG Ports defaulted on its loans, and Arkhangelsky fled Russia to seek asylum in France.
Subsequently, Bank St. Petersburg became involved in a long-running dispute with Arkhangelsky including over 20 claims in Russia, Bulgaria, and the British Virgin Islands. Arkhangelsky also made a counterclaim against the bank, alleging that its actions against OMG constituted a “fraudulent raiding” scheme on OMG’s assets, worth USD 500 million.
In 2011 the parties agreed to refer the dispute to the High Court of Justice for resolution. As a result, the Court dismissed Arkhangelsky's USD 500 million claim against Bank St. Petersburg and granted the bank's claim to recover RUB 1.8 billion from Arkhangelsky under various loan and suretyship agreements.
According to the High Court of Justice, Arkhangelsky remains in debt not only to Bank St. Petersburg, but also to Vnesheconombank, VTB, Bank Vozrozhdenie, Sviaz-Bank, Master Bank, Marine Joint-Stock Bank, Energomashbank, and Lipetskcombank.
The EPAM team consisted of Saint Petersburg Office Managing Partner Ivan Smirnov, Senior Associate Evgeny Gurchenko, and Associate Ays Lidjanova.
