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UPDATE 1-France unfreezes Russia central bank account

Tue May 6, 2008 11:00pm IST
 
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(Adds sourcing from court documents, adds comments from lawyer)

PARIS, May 6 (Reuters) - A French court on Tuesday lifted a freeze on the Russian central bank's accounts with a French commercial bank, frozen as part of a suit by Swiss trading firm Noga, court documents showed.

"We've won, which means that there is no longer any seizure possible in any bank," Pascale Poupelin, who represents the Russian Central Bank, told Reuters.

A source close to the Russian central bank confirmed the move: "The central bank no longer has any frozen assets in France," the source said.

Noga won court rulings in January to freeze 50 million euros ($77.4 million) of Russian central bank assets held with Natixis (CNAT.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and 50 million euros with Calyon (CAGR.PA: Quote, Profile, Research).

Noga was seeking reimbursement of debt from an oil-for-food deal struck in 1991 to 1992.

In March, a court lifted a freeze on the central bank assets held with Natixis and on Tuesday a separate court unfroze the funds held in Calyon.

Poupelin said the Tuesday ruling would apply in future to all foreign central bank funds held in French banks.

"If a foreign central bank opens an account in France, be it with their own funds or funds they hold for a state, they are exempt from seizure," she said.

She said Noga was appealing both the Natixis and Calyon decisions, and expected appeals courts to give final rulings late this year or early next. (Reporting by Brian Rohan in Paris and Gleb Bryanski in Tula; Editing by Ron Askew/Will Waterman)

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