Court liquidates Gusinsky's empire

Gusinsky has faced a string of legal challenges in Russia

MOSCOW, Russia -- Media-Most, the holding company for Vladimir Gusinsky's independent media empire, has been liquidated by a Russian court, news agencies have reported.

The appeals department of Moscow's arbitration court made the order on Tuesday, overturning an earlier decision by a lower court, said the Associated Press.

The Moscow Arbitration Court had thrown out a suit last month initially launched by the tax authorities in December, saying that the filing of liquidation suits was beyond the jurisdiction of tax authorities.

But the tax authorities, which sought to disband Media-Most on accusations of violating financial security laws, challenged the ruling.

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The suit demanded the liquidation of Media-Most for insolvency, citing the company's high level of debts relative to assets, court officials have said.

Media-Most lawyers on the case could not immediately be reached for comment, the Associated Press said, and the holding company declined to speculate on the possible consequences before consulting with its attorneys.

AP added that Media-Most's company spokesman Dmitry Ostalsky said it will appeal against the ruling.

Alexander Remigailo, arbitration court spokesman, said: "As far as I understand it, Media-Most is going to challenge the ruling, so it's too early to speak about the liquidation as a fact," AP quoted him as saying.

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It is the latest setback to the media tycoon who only recently fought off a year long attempt by the Russian authorities to extradite him from Spain on fraud charges.

Gusinsky, the founder of Media-Most, has been chased by Russian authorities for allegedly misrepresenting Media-Most's assets when applying for a loan from the state-owned gas giant company Gazprom.

Gazprom took over Media-Most's flagship independent nationwide television network NTV, replacing its leadership and appointing a new team of journalists after a walk-out by its staff.

NTV had been critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin's policy in Chechnya and alleged high-level corruption. Gusinsky said the Russian authorities' actions had been politically-motivated.

The new board also dismissed the staff of political magazine Itogi and closed the daily newspaper Segodnya.

The Kremlin denied any role in Gusinsky's troubles and Gazprom says that its interest in the media business is purely commercial.