MIAN Development, the development subsidiary of Kopernik Group, was declared bankrupt on Dec. 3, the web site of the Moscow Arbitration Court showed on Monday. The bankruptcy announcement follows a series of four lawsuits for up to 13.2 million rubles that have been filed against the firm since the beginning of 2009 by MIAN, a separate company, Vedomosti reported.

MIAN Development stated in 2008 it was “participating” in the construction of one million square meters’ worth of real estate in Moscow.

No one from Kopernik Group, previously called MIAN Group, was available to comment on the matter, or explain precisely what triggered the bankruptcy filing. However, the group’s president, Alexander Senatorov, has previously described how the claimant in the current matter, MIAN, itself had earlier seen its accounts confiscated by the tax authorities.

MIAN, formerly a key part of the then MIAN Group until it was separated from the holding in 2007, was also subject to a 1.4 billion ruble suit from a company called IFK Gianeya in 2008. It was declared bankrupt in September that year, and 12 months of winding-up proceedings followed.

Financial pressure began for MIAN in 2007, when the Federal Tax Inspection Service ordered the company to pay more than one billion rubles in taxes following its retrospective use of a promissory note payment system on the company between 2004 and 2006.