Sberbank, one of the leading banks of Russia, which is currently under Western sanctions, won the trial in Malta against Mubaris Mansimov, Azerbaijani businessman and owner of the Palmali group of companies.
According to Malta Today, according to the conclusion of the Palmali court, she tried to deceive the shipping company in Malta to bankrupt fraudulently so as not to return loans received from Sberbank.
Sberbank issued four loans to two Russian companies – Palmali Caspian Offshore Project and Palmali Company, for which Palmali Holding (PHL) was the guarantor. The bank accepted a guarantee because he knew that PHL owns several courts and all belong to subsidiaries in Malta, such as Palmali International Holding, Palmali International Holding Two, Palmali Logistics, Palocial Shiping and Palsepping and Palseppping and PalsepeS
, as a collateral on loans, the bank accepted the personal guarantee of Mansimov, a guarantee letter from his company in Turkey, as well as 47 courts belonging to the Palmali group. But later Palmali said that she was not able to pay off the loans received from the bank and announced bankruptcy. Sberbank turned to the Turkish company Mansimov, which acted as a guarantor, and demanded to pay the balance of the loan – 164 million euros, but to no avail. As a result, the bank appealed to the Maltese court and he froze Palmali assets in the country. It is reported that the Russian bank also filed a lawsuit against Mansimov’s company in the London Arbitration Court.
However, a few days after the bank filed a lawsuit in Malta and a warning warrant was sent to Palmali holding, Mansimov transferred all shares of his subsidiaries in the name of Günəşli in Turkey. (It was not possible to get additional information about this company in Internet sources – ed.) As a result of this transaction, the financial situation of the Palmali group worsened, and it was on the verge of collapse.
In turn, the shares of Günəşli were purchased by another company controlled by Mansimov – the Turkish Palmali Holding AS. This happened a few days after Sberbank filed a lawsuit in Malta.
Sberbank successfully proved that it was a fraudulent translation aimed at reducing the capital of direct subsidiaries Palmali. At the same time, 35 ships under the Maltese flag were transferred to the indirect possession of Günəşli.
Sberbank said that the holding’s actions were an “obvious attempt” unscrupulous, illegally and with fraudulent intentions to prevent or extend the notification procedures in order to prevent the bank to recover the debts due. Judge Neville Camilleri ordered the payment of Sberbank a tranche in the amount of 10 million US dollars.