Rosneft's CEO Says VTB Did Not Finance Share Sale

Russian state bank VTB did not finance the recent deal by Qatar to buy a stake in Rosneft and it is verifiable by looking at who has the oil giant's shares as collateral, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said on Wednesday.

Reuters reported last week that VTB secretly financed the purchase of Rosneft shares by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund (QIA) this year.

"If it (VTB) did that, it would have the shares as a collateral," Sechin told TV Rain Russian broadcaster on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Singapore.

"Check to see if the (Rosneft) shares are at VTB as a collateral and everything will become clear to you. It did not loan to QIA. You have an opportunity to verify that," said Sechin.

VTB on Monday challenged media to a legally-binding bet of 1 billion roubles ($14.8 million) over what it said were incorrect reports it provided Qatar with a loan to finance Rosneft shares sale.

A Reuters spokesman said on Monday: "We stand by our story."

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Andrey Kuzmin; Editing by Mike Collett-White)