Sergei Mavrodi, president of the notorious MMM investment fund, ignored an invitation Wednesday to meet face to face with top Russian government officials and review the company's activities.


Mavrodi instead sent MMM lawyer Alexander Solashenko, whom the officials did not allow to speak, saying he was not authorized to represent Mavrodi.


"We still insist that MMM register all of its shareholders and announce the value of its assets," said First Deputy Finance Minister Andrei Vavilov, according to Reuters.


The company, which slashed the price of its own shares to less than 1 percent of their previous value last week, claims to have some 10 million shareholders. All shares, however, technically belong to MMM until a transfer of ownership is recorded in the company register, which MMM officials claim to have lost.


The Finance Ministry, the Antitrust Committee, and the State Tax Service have made several attempts this week to contact Mavrodi. They want to see the books of the company, which the State Tax Service has said owes some 49 billion rubles ($24.5 million) in back taxes.


Meanwhile on Wednesday, would-be investors continued to line up at MMM headquarters in southern Moscow to buy shares at their new devalued price, taking the risk that the reputed pyramid scheme will rise again.


One MMM office in northern Moscow also went on redeeming shares of low-income investors at the pre-collapse price of 125,000 rubles. A list of 1,000 shareholders compiled by a special committee set up to look after the interests of poorer shareholders was posted outside the office, located near the Aeroport metro stop.


Each shareholder on the list was allowed to redeem up to 20 shares.