Kyrgyz Court Upholds Russia's Rezervspetsmet Right on Bitel

MOSCOW, Dec 14 (Prime-Tass) -- The economic division of Kyrgyzstan's Bishkek City Court has upheld Bishkek Interdictrict Court's ruling, finding Russia's Rezervspetsmet the rightful owner of Kyrgyzstan's largest mobile operator Bitel, Rezervspetsmet said in a statement Wednesday.

Bishkek City Court rejected the appeal filed by Bitel, Rezervspetsmet said.

Bitel challenged an earlier decision of the Justice Ministry to re-register the ownership rights of the company to Rezervspetsmet.

On November 21, Bishkek Interdictrict Court ruled that the re-registration was legal.

The ownership rights of Bitel have been disputed in courts since April. In April, a Kyrgyz court ruled that Fellowes, owned by Russia's Alfa Group, is the rightful owner of 100% of Bitel's shares. However, Fellowes was unable to execute its ownership rights, as a U.K. court upheld a claim of Kazakhstan's Alliance Capital and banned Alfa Group from managing Bitel.

In late October, the Kyrgyz Justice Ministry re-registered 100% of Bitel

Posted to the site on 14th December 2005