MOSCOW, Dec 17 (Reuters) - A Russian court confirmed on Wednesday it had ordered the seizure as part of a criminal probe of a $180 million bond guaranteed by the Moscow region's government.
"The order was issued at a request of the investigative department of Moscow region police as part of a criminal investigation into a director general of IFK RIGroup-Finans, Lyudmila Bezdel," the Moscow region court said in a statement.
Moscow Region, Russia's most indebted province, said on Tuesday it had declined to make a coupon payment and execute a put option on the bond, citing a court order and a criminal investigation. The put option fell due on Dec. 15.
The court said the criminal investigation into fraud was launched on Nov. 25. IFK RIGroup-Finans, one of the organisers of the Moscow regional mortgage agency's bond issue, was not available for comment on Wednesday.
In October, Standard & Poor's [ID:nWNA7674] and Moody's [ID:nWLA1747] downgraded the Moscow region, citing the region's guarantees issued to a number of region-controlled enterprises as a reason for the downgrade.
Russia's MICEX stock exchange, where the bond was last seen traded on Tuesday, was not able to say whether it had received the court order.
Moscow region, the province that surrounds but does not include Russia's capital, accounts for 4.5 percent of Russia's total gross domestic product. (Reporting by Yelena Fabrichnaya and Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Ron Askew)