IPOC International Growth Fund Ltd. has been declassified as a Bermuda-regulated mutual fund, The Royal Gazette has learned.

A BMA spokeswoman confirmed on Tuesday night that the BMA had taken the action.

She said the action meant the fund was "no longer under the BMA system" and was no longer listed by the BMA as a classified and regulated fund.

That means the fund could not solicit funds or act under any Bermuda regulation, she said.

Asked if it ended any involvement by the BMA with the fund, she said: "It does from a regulation or classification standpoint."

Asked what other areas there could be, she said she could not comment further.

The news comes one day after IPOC published a half-page advertisement in The Royal Gazette restating an announcement by the Office of the Russian Federation's Prosecutor General that IPOC has no case to answer in connection with fraud allegations made against it.

IPOC has been trying to bid to regain a 25 percent stake in OAO MegaFon, Russia's third largest mobile phone company.

In May, an arbitration tribunal in Zurich said Russian that Information Technology and Communications Minister Leonid Reiman is the beneficial owner of IPOC. Reiman denied the allegation.

Puisne Judge Ian Kawaley later upheld the ruling in a related case in the Bermuda Supreme Court.

IPOC said it gained rights to the MegaFon stake by signing two options agreements with Leonid Rozhetskin's LV Finance, the previous owner, in 2001.

Alfa, which now claims it owns the stake, acquired LV Finance in 2003.

It is anticipated that these findings should have a significant impact on the various ongoing proceedings to determine the ownership of the disputed MegaFon stake and expose all the "scurrilous and scandalous allegations surrounding the shares".

"Alfa, its agents and co-defendants have made outrageous allegations all over the world about IPOC in an attempt to deflect attention from their own action and to try to ensure that the truth about their conduct is never dealt with before a court."

The company said that an arrest warrant for Mr. Rozhetskin is still in force and Mr. Rozhetskin is currently a fugitive.