Corruption lawsuit against Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected

A Moscow court has rejected alawsuit filed against Russian President Vladimir Putin byopposition leader Alexei Navalny, the RIA news agency quoted aspokeswoman for the court as saying on Friday.

Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner, said on Thursday hehad filed the suit. He accused Putin of violating corruptionlaws after a company in which the Russian leader's son-in-law, KirillShamalov,isa shareholder received $1.75 billion US in state support.

The suit cited a Reuters investigation that reported thatShamalovis a major shareholder in petrochemicals producer Sibur, which received the funding fromRussia's National Wealth Fund at an unusually lowinterest ratelast year.

When asked about Navalny's legal action, Putin's spokesman,Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Thursday the Russian leader wasunaware of the suit. Peskov did not reply to a Reuters requestfor comment on Thursday.

RIA quoted a spokeswoman for Moscow's Tverskoi court,Anastasia Dzyurko, as saying it had rejected Navalny's suit ontechnical grounds. The court could not immediately be reachedfor comment.

Navalny sarcastically said on his official Twitter accountthat he was "shocked" by the decision. He said he thought it wasinteresting that the court's decision to reject his suit hadnothing to do with its substance but was due "apparently" to atechnicality.

'Aclassic conflict of interest'

Navalny's suit, a copy of which was postedon his blog Thursday,asked the court to rule unlawful Putin's failure to act inpreventing a conflict of interest.

He asked the court to require Putin to recuse himselffrom any decisions about providing state funds for the Sibur
project which benefited from the financing.

"Kirill Shamalov is the spouse of Putin's daughter. Putingiving money to a company where the beneficiary is his child'spartner is a classic conflict of interest. Straight out of atextbook," Navalny wrote in a post on his blog.

A Sibur spokesman said in December the state loan wasapproved in strict accordance with the law. The Russian DirectInvestment Fund, which took the decision to make the loan, saidit fully complied with procedures for investing state money ininfrastructure projects.

A Reuters investigation last year found that Shamalovmarried Putin's youngest daughter, Katerina Tikhonova, in early2013, shortly before acquiring a majority stake in Sibur.