Oligarchy

[TsarSamuil]

First Mikhail Khodorkovsky trial ‘not political,’ European court upholds.

10:16 17/12/2011
MOSCOW, December 17 (RIA Novosti)

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has not backed a claim by jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky that his arrest and trial were politically motivated.

In a press release issued on December 14, the Grand Chamber said it had rejected to re-examine the court’s May 31 judgment, which said “incontestable proof” to back allegations of political motivation behind Khodorkovsky’s prosecution “had not been presented.”

However, the Strasbourg judges then ruled that Russia violated Khodorkovsky’s rights during his arrest in 2003 and detention.

Khodorkovsky’s eight-year jail term has since been extended for fraud and tax evasion has since been extended by another five years. He was convicted in a second case last December of stealing oil from his own oil firm Yukos and is currently due for release in 2016.

The European court’s judgment is now final, meaning Russia is obliged to pay Khodorkovsky 24,543 euros in compensation within the next three months.

It also means that Russian courts’ decisions which authorized the tycoon’s detention can now be re-examined, one of Khodorkovsky’s lawyers, Vadim Klyuvgant, told the Kommersant daily.

Recently, a documentary film showing the history of the Khodorkovsky affair was released in Moscow and Russia in only a few cinemas, as many refused to show it.

[TsarSamuil]

Communist swine...

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Communist leader pledges pardon for Khodorkovsky if elected president.

15:10 11/01/2012
MOSCOW, January 11 (RIA Novosti)

The leader of the Communist Party of Russia, Gennady Zyuganov, said on Wednesday he would pardon former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky if elected president.

Khodorkovsky, once seen as a potential threat to Putin, has been in jail on charges of fraud and tax evasion since 2003. His eight-year jail term has since been extended by another five years and is currently due for release in 2016.

“I think humanity and mercy should be shown. Khodorkovsky has already served quite a long term,” the Communist leader told reporters.

He said the results of the “illegal and criminal” privatization of the 1990s should be reviewed first and those found guilty of economic crimes should be punished in accordance with the term served by Khodorkovsky.

"About 50,000 crimes have been uncovered. By considering all those cases we would be able to make a decision, by which everyone would get what they deserve with a reference to the term served by Khodorkovsky,” Zyuganov said.

Zyuganov, who is to announce his campaign platform on Saturday, also said he would amend the constitution to permit only two five-year presidential terms.

A senior member of his party, Andrey Klychkov, said the Communists have prepared an extensive reform of Russia’s political system, including limiting presidential powers, reinstating direct governor elections, increasing the presidential campaign period and making political debates obligatory for all candidates.

[TsarSamuil]

Vid,
rt.com/news/france-freezes-berezovsky-assets-237/

Tycoon hunt: France strips Berezovsky of millions.

RT.com
28 April, 2012, 21:50

France has frozen ˆ13 million worth assets of exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky. The measure follows a request from Russian prosecutors, and was taken alongside other seizures throughout Europe.

Switzerland, Monaco, France and Ukraine have seized property and bank accounts of several individuals charged in high-profile cases in Russia, the country's Prosecutor General announced Saturday. The total amount of assets seized is estimated at ˆ30 million euro.

The office did not specify what of Berezovsky's property was seized, but said the Prosecutor General would report the details of the operation to the government at the end of May.

Meanwhile, Berezovsky himself says he is not aware of any seizures or arrests.

“I don't know anything about my property being seized. [Prosecutors] were talking about my yacht being seized, but then it turned out the yacht was not mine,” he told Interfax.

Moscow has issued multiple arrest warrants for the self-exiled tycoon, who now lives in London, and has repeatedly demanded his extradition from Britain.

Russian courts accuse Berezovsky of embezzling $2 billion from two major state companies, as well as fraud and money-laundering.

[TsarSamuil]

Berezovsky sets $17 million bounty on capture of Putin.

RT.com
07 May, 2012, 00:17

As Vladimir Putin prepares to take office, fugitive Boris Berezovsky is offering $16.7 million to anyone who detains Putin at his inauguration. The sum has increased ten-fold since his previous offer, evidently ignoring the economic crisis.

Despite being stripped of property and bank accounts in Switzerland, Monaco, France and Ukraine , Berezovsky has still reckons he has the funds to pursue his ideas of justice for Russia. On Sunday Berezovsky told his Facebook followers he agreed that 50 million rubles ($1.67 million) was not enough for such a grand action as capturing “Putin and his sidekicks.”

The renewed call to capture the president-elect “alive” comes on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration in the Kremlin, while Moscow police have detained hundreds of opposition activists protesting the results of March’s presidential poll .

In his initial call, issued on April 23 in his blog, the self-exiled mogul said he wanted to bring Putin “to a fair and open court hearing, like the Nuremberg trial.” To fully feel the comparison, it’s worth remembering that the Nuremberg process was a tribunal for German officials involved in the Holocaust and other war crimes. How it fits with the current situation in Russia, even as it is pictured by Berezovsky, remains unclear.

In “a goodwill gesture,” he says he is ready to stand the same “open fair trial” for his alleged support of Putin in 1999-2000.

Berezovsky maintains Putin is going to seize power in the country while delivering his presidential oath on May 7. This will be the third presidential term for the Russian leader, which, according to Berezovsky, contradicts the constitution.

The full text of the constitution postulates that “one and the same person cannot be President of the Russian Federation for longer than two terms of office in succession.” Here, the key words are “in succession” – the rule does not limit the number of terms to only two in a lifetime.

Berezovsky, dubbing Putin’s regime “pagan,” is calling for an uprising against “tyranny and oppression.”

“Demonstrators could detain Putin and take him into custody during their actions planned for May 6-7,” writes Berezovsky from his headquarters in the UK. He also promises that anyone trying to hold back Putin’s motorcade on their way to Kremlin on Monday cannot be regarded as a rioter under the Penal Code, as their actions “would be aimed at restoring constitutional order.”

“As I cannot take part in capturing Putin personally, I have decided to contribute to the cause: I set a reward of 50 million rubles for detaining the dangerous criminal Vladimir Putin and taking him into custody,” declared Berezovsky in April. Now this sum has increased ten times over.

While Berezovsky is trying to incite Moscow opposition activists to do his dirty work while sitting in his cozy study in London, Russian courts want to see him on several counts including fraud, money-laundering and the embezzlement of $2 billion from two major state companies.

Moscow has issued multiple arrest warrants for the self-exiled tycoon and has repeatedly demanded his extradition from Britain, but to no effect. Now Berezovsky says that, after his anti-Putin calls, re-applying for his extradition would only “prove to the British court his views that Putin has usurped power [in Russia].”

[TsarSamuil]

Vid,
rt.com/news/berezovsky-funds-queens-cousin-155/

Queen’s cousin received $500k from exiled Russian tycoon Berezovsky.

RT.com
13 May, 2012, 21:12

Prince Michael of Kent was so chummy with exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky that he managed to secure half a million dollars in payments over the years.

Both the Prince and his Russian benefactor stressed the payments, some $514,320 in total, were “conducted properly” and privately between the “good friends.”

Berezovsky told The Sunday Times “there is nothing underhand or improper about the financial assistance I have given Prince Michael. It is a matter between friends.”

A representative for the prince also insists all taxes were paid. However, no information was forthcoming on what the money was spent on and why it was needed.The daily reported that Berezovsky had channeled the money to the prince through offshore companies some 56 times between 2002 and 2008.

Details of the financial support Michael received were disclosed in documents ahead of an upcoming trial. Berezovsky is suing the family of a deceased Georgian business partner for £2billion.

The case comes on the heels of another high-profile, £3.5billion legal battle between Berezovsky and fellow Russian businessman Roman Abramovich.

Moscow has issued multiple arrest warrants for the self-exiled tycoon after he was convicted in absentia for embezzling $8.8 million from the Russian airline company Aeroflot. The United Kingdom granted Berezovsky political asylum in 2003. The UK’s subsequent refusals to extradite him following his 2007 conviction have remained a major diplomatic sticking point between the two countries.

Michael is the queen’s first cousin and is distantly related to Tsar Nicholas II. He also speaks fluent Russian and is considered to be a close friend of Berezovsky.

The pair have known each other since the early 90s, with the prince’s spokesman claiming Berezovsky holds the “prince’s work” in high esteem.

The prince’s financial woes have been well documented in the British press. Apart from Berezovsky, he has also received considerable financial assistance from the Queen.

[TsarSamuil]

Russia to Prosecute Berezovsky Over Riots Appeal.

13:41 29/05/2012
MOSCOW, May 29 (RIA Novosti)

Russia’s Investigative Committee has initiated two criminal cases against UK-based Russian tycoon, Boris Berezovsky, over his public calls for riots, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.

“Main Investigations Directorate initiated a criminal case against Boris Berezovsky over the placement on the Internet in April 2012 his speech in which he called for riots,” Markin said.

He said that Berezovsky “publicly called on Russian citizens to participate in mass disorder with violence; namely, to hold mass illegal actions in public places in Moscow, in order to prevent the inauguration of the legitimately elected Russian President, and his entry to the Kremlin on May 7, he promised to give money reward for the president’s detainment.”

The second case initiated against Berezovsky is over his publishing of an open letter on Ekho Moskvy website, Markin said. In his open letter Berezovsky publicly called for riots, Markin added.

In November 2007, a Russian court sentenced Berezovsky to six years in jail in absentia for stealing millions of dollars from the Russian airline carrier Aeroflot in the 1990s.

In June 2009, he was sentenced to a further 13 years in absentia for stealing thousands of cars from carmaker Avtovaz, also in the 1990s.

[TsarSamuil]

Ex-K.G.B. Banker and Putin Critic Plans to Sell Assets.

NyTimes.com - August 3, 2012
By ANDREW E. KRAMER

MOSCOW — Aleksandr Y. Lebedev, a prominent banker and newspaper magnate who has supported the political opposition, announced on Friday that police and regulatory checks had become so intense that he would sell all of his Russia-based assets.

“The special services steamrolled my businesses into the pavement,” Mr. Lebedev told the Interfax news agency. “I give up.”

If he indeed divests himself of Russian assets — he said it might be difficult to find buyers, given the controversy — Mr. Lebedev will be joining a dozen or so other post-Soviet billionaires who lost fortunes or at least moved them out of Russia after public disputes with President Vladimir V. Putin. Mr. Lebedev had for years gotten away with tweaking the president in public, with humor and sponsorship of a dissident newspaper, perhaps because he is, like Mr. Putin, a veteran of the Soviet K.G.B. with deep roots of his own in the Moscow political elite.

In one of several interviews with Russian and foreign media outlets in which he made the announcement on Friday, Mr. Lebedev, 52, said he would reduce his exposure to Russian investments to “zero.” Forbes magazine reported his net worth at $1.1 billion, though not all of it was invested in Russia.

Harassment of his businesses is not new. His bank has repeatedly been targeted in a type of ritual police raid on a business — known as a masky show, for the masks worn by the police — something the debonair financier had joked about in the past.

On Friday, he said the police had been telling him that they had “some order from above” to investigate his businesses and encourage him to leave the country, while asking him about his political views.

“They worked on my personal life, my business partners and my political convictions,” he said. “I’ll admit: they won. It’s impossible to conduct business, as they are everywhere.”

Mr. Lebedev is the owner, together with the former Soviet president Mikhail S. Gorbachev, of the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, where the investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya worked until her murder in 2006. More recently, in February, he nominated the anticorruption activist and blogger Aleksei Navalny to the board of Aeroflot, the national airline, in which Mr. Lebedev has a stake. The move was a clear thumbing of his nose at government efforts to sideline Mr. Navalny.

Mr. Lebedev served as a lieutenant colonel in the K.G.B. and was posted in Britain when the Soviet Union fell, a background seemingly at odds with financing a dissident newspaper and his jesterlike role in Moscow.

In a 2007 interview with The New York Times, Mr. Lebedev said the foreign intelligence officers of the K.G.B. in the late Soviet period, including himself, generally formed a pro-reform faction in the Soviet establishment, owing to their firsthand knowledge of the gap with the West, and even propped up Mr. Gorbachev against hard-liners. Commentators have suggested that Mr. Lebedev’s K.G.B. past protected him, and the financial flows to Novaya Gazeta, even as Mr. Putin targeted other wealthy Russians.

Besides the share in Aeroflot, Mr. Lebedev has stakes in a development company, farms and a budget airline, called Red Wings, and two British newspapers, The Independent and The Evening Standard.

[TsarSamuil]

Vid,
rt.com/news/berezovsky-abramovich-judgment-028/

Berezovsky loses $5.6bn High Court case against Abramovich.

RT.com
31 August, 2012, 13:39

A UK court has struck down a $5.6 billion lawsuit filed against Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich by his former partner Boris Berezovsky. The case recalls the 1990s disputes over Russia’s natural resources.

Judge Elizabeth Gloster ruled that Russian executive Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of the Chelsea Football Club, will not pay the huge sum to the self-exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky.

The judge ruled that almost every aspect of the case was in dispute, RT producer Valentina Shpakova tweeted from the courtroom.

Berezovsky appeared disappointed and slightly nervous, Shpakova reported. Abramovich did not attend the verdict announcement. His team of lawyers merely smiled as the judge read out her lengthy statement.

Judge Elizabeth Gloster said that the 45-year-old Abramovich was the more reliable witness, with the 66-year-old Boris Berezovsky acting "deluded" while testifying and providing unreliable evidence. The case heavily depended on the oral evidence so the court needed to have a high degree of confidence in its quality, explained the judge.

"I found Mr. Berezovsky an unimpressive, and inherently unreliable witness who regarded truth as a transitory, flexible concept," Reuters quoted Judge Gloster as saying.

Berezovsky remained expressionless, and did not visibly react to the remark.

"At times the evidence which he gave was deliberately dishonest; sometimes he was clearly making his evidence up as he went along in response to the perceived difficulty in answering the questions in a manner consistent with his case,” the Judge told the courtroom.

The judge also rejected Berezovsky’s claim that Abramovich had provided false testimony.

Upon losing the legal battle in London, Berezovsky claimed that "everything Abramovich presented in court was a lie.”

Berezovsky’s lawyer said the London High Court did not understand the nuances of doing business in Russia.

Berezovsky says he is "totally disappointed" and "surprised" by the verdict, adding his confidence in English justice has been undermined. Still he claimed he had “no regrets about bringing the case.”

"I don't understand what happened,” he told journalists on leaving the courtroom. "But a legal decision cannot rewrite history."

Berezovsky is considering whether to appeal the verdict. Experts believe it may be worth his time to contest the decision: “The sums are so great: $5 billion or more. It is worthwhile, his appealing,” John Flood, Professor of Law at Westminster University told RT.

“And that might lead to a settlement talk. But the trouble with Russian cases is that there is no move towards settlement. They keep entrenched in polar opposite positions and just want to fight it out,” he said.

Meanwhile, Abramovich’s defense team expressed satisfaction with the ruling: “We are pleased to hear the judge describing Mr. Abramovich as a truthful and honest witness."
Wild post-Soviet business exposed: Cronyism, underhanded deals, private jets

The verdict closed a case that shed light on the secret world of oligarchs: Unimaginable sums of money, offshore bank accounts, illicit payments, glamour, luxury cruisers and deals done by handshake alone.

Since both men live in the UK, the warring billionaires brought their case to a London court – along with entourages of high-priced lawyers, menacing bodyguards and beautiful women.

The two businessmen accused each other of lying, corruption, greed and dishonesty, and also leveled allegations of threats of physical violence.

Berezovsky claimed Abramovich used his close ties with Kremlin to intimidate his former partner and forced him to sell Russia’s fourth biggest oil company for a fraction of its value. In 2002, Berezovsky sold the Sibneft oil company to Abramovich for $1.2 billion.

Roman Abramovich denied the charges, claiming that Berezovsky never owned shares in the company. Abramovich alleged he was paying the exiled oligarch for political protection.

In Russian criminal slang, a protection racket is called a ‘krysha’ (roof). As the result of this case, the word is widely used in UK legal circles.

The case recalled many of the grim perils of doing business in Russia during the violent, post-Soviet era. Commentators speculated on the idiosyncrasies of the criminal slang used by the Russian mafia in the 1990s, the same vernacular used by the those who elbowed their way into the ranks of the oligarchs.

Abramovich said he made regular undocumented payments to Berezovsky in return for political protection, totaling several hundred million dollars. The payments were made in $5 million cash increments.

He also revealed that he paid for Berezovsky’s travels on a private jet, as well as for luxurious living accommodations and even jewelry for Berezovsky’s girlfriend.

Berezovsky made a fortune through his close ties to the late Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

While Yeltsin was in office, Berezovsky spent more time in the Kremlin than any other Russian executive, and was rumored to be Yeltsin’s personal family broker. When Putin was elected president of Russia in 2000, Berezovsky was disgraced, and was forced to flee to London, where the UK granted the former tycoon political asylum.

The UK denied Russian demands to extradite Berezovsky, despite his being charged with guilty verdicts for numerous economic crimes.

The trial was one of the biggest in British history, costing tens of millions of pounds in legal fees on both sides and involving hundreds of hours of court time.

“We have what’s now known as the Russian premium on fees. The top [Queen’s Counsels] who were in these cases have been making money anywhere 800-1500 pounds in hour. The clerks who work for them are now becoming very skilled at negotiating with Russians,” Professor Flood said.

Abramovich, possessing a personal net worth of $12.1 billion, is ranked as the world's 68th richest man. Berezovsky’s current personal wealth remains unknown.

[TsarSamuil]

Putin... carrying on Yeltsin's stupidity

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Sberbank Wraps Up $5.2Bln Listing.

MoscowTimes.com
19 September 2012
By Howard Amos

Sberbank president German Gref usually speaks in little more than a whisper, but there were no problems with audibility Wednesday as he announced the state-owned bank's successful sale of a $5.2 billion stake to domestic and international investors.

The conclusion of the long-awaited deal, which leaves the Central Bank with 50 percent plus one share of the nation's largest lender, may help reinvigorate the Kremlin's ambitious program of state sell-offs.

"If they believe in us, they believe in Russia," Gref told reporters at Sberbank headquarters in a voice that carried to every corner of the room. "With this deal Sberbank has opened the gates for privatization in this country."

The final price for the new shares was 93 rubles ($3.04), two rubles above the minimum set for the placement and a 4.1 percent discount on Friday's closing price. The launch of the sale was announced before markets opened Monday.

The books for the deal were covered on the first day and, by the time they were closed Tuesday, were twice oversubscribed at the final 93 ruble price.

While it had not affected his voice, Central Bank Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev's satisfaction was as evident as Gref's.

This is "one of the three largest placements in modern Russian history," he told reporters. "It is important as a model of a high-quality privatization deal."

And the scale of the deal, in which 1.7 billion ordinary shares were sold to buyers including 300 institutional investors, will have macroeconomic significance and help reverse capital outflow, Ulyukayev added.

President Vladimir Putin made his own addition to the chorus of praise for Sberbank late Tuesday, stressing the profitability of the deal for the state.

"For every $100 invested in Sberbank 10 years ago, today the majority shareholder, the Central Bank, received $3,700," Putin said, RIA-Novosti reported. "That's a very good yield."

Investors who decided to buy into the Sberbank story of domestic domination and foreign expansion came from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the United States, Gref said.

Local demand for the Sberbank secondary public offering, or SPO, was less than expected. Only 3 percent of the total listing was on the joint Micex and RTS Moscow Stock Exchange, in contrast to an upper limit of 15 percent that executives announced Monday.

Funds controlled by U.S. billionaire George Soros were some of the biggest participants, media reports said. There were 10 bids for $100 million or more of the stock, Sberbank deputy chairman Anton Karamzin said.

Gref stressed that for many of those who participated it was their first experience of association with Russian companies.

"A large proportion [of buyers] have never invested in us or in Russia in general," Gref said. "It was an international exam that we passed."

Though Sberbank said earlier this week that Sberbank Investments, a subsidiary of Sberbank, could acquire up to 20 billion rubles of ordinary shares in the placement, Gref said sufficient outside interest meant this step had not been necessary.

With 46 percent of retail deposits, Sberbank's market position in Russia is exceptionally strong. But both Putin and Ulyukayev underlined that the problem-free placement was a positive signal for the whole financial sector.

There were immediately signs of others looking to cling to Sberbank's shirttails.

The nation's second largest bank, VTB, said Wednesday that it was hoping to complete a privatization of at least $2 billion, probably by next spring.

Under current plans approved by the Kremlin, the government must sell 25.2 percent of its majority stake in VTB by 2014.

"We will go ahead," VTB head Andrei Kostin said Wednesday, Reuters reported. "We were waiting for Sberbank."

And VTB received official encouragement from the government to start preparing to mirror Sberbank's success.

"Now that Sberbank's done with, VTB must be worked on," Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said, RIA-Novosti reported.

Sberbank's share price has slumped in recent days: 3.37 percent since the close of Friday trading and the announcement that the secondary public offering was underway. The Micex Index fell 2.36 percent in the same period.

But Gref said the fall was only a blip.

As the company's stock has been depressed since the government approved plans for the sale of the 7.58 percent stake belonging to the Central bank last year, the shares will gain in the wake of the successful placement, he added.

Sberbank's SPO was organized by investment banks Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Troika Dialog.

It will be the last such deal carried out by the once-independent Moscow brokerage Troika Dialog, which was purchased by Sberbank last year as a part of a bid to establish a full range of financial services and build an international reputation.

The placement was the last deal for Troika Dialog and the first for Sberbank's Corporate Investment Banking department, said Troika Dialog head Ruben Vardanian.

While executives and officials were hailing Sberbank's success as the beginning of a new love affair between international investors and Russian stocks, others sounded a note of caution.

Sberbank's management efficiency and dominant position on the domestic market make it part of a select group of Russian companies — and the vagaries of the macroeconomic situation could throw up obstacles at any moment.

"The Sberbank SPO will open a window of opportunity for Russian companies to follow," said Alexander Morozov, chief economist at HSBC in Moscow. "Yet this market window might be pretty short."

U.S. investor Jim Rogers has become a consultant at VTB Capital, the investment banking arm of VTB, according to an e-mailed statement from the bank Tuesday. He will help lure agriculture investments, VTB Capital said. Rogers co-founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros.

[TsarSamuil]

Berezovsky court saga: Oligarch sued by ex-lover demanding millions.

RT.com
24 January, 2013, 16:36



Exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky faces just another lawsuit - his ex-lover demands almost US$8 million compensation. The UK court ordered to freeze oligarch’s assets, worth millions, in order to make the payment if he loses the case.

Elena Gorbunova, Berezovsky`s partner of 20 years and the mother of two of his children, who broke up with the tycoon last year, claims he owes her one fifth of the money he received after selling his home in Surrey. The house was estimated at 25 million pounds (some $40 million). She also says her ex-partner is trying to sell two properties in the South of France which he promised to her.

Gorbunova, who is in her early 40s, filed the case in 2012, but it was held privately up until now when the press urged the judge to make the hearings public.

According to the ruling made by Judge George Mann on January 18 and released on Wednesday, Gorbunova won an asset-freeze of Berezovsky`s luxury properties in France. The initial figure was 200 million pounds, but it was reported that the judge reduced the sum.

“On the evidence, Mr. Berezovsky is a man under financial pressure. It is likely he will feel a more pressing need to satisfy creditors than satisfy Ms. Gorbunova,” Judge Mann said, adding that she is "fearful that she will not receive the proceeds of any such sale because Mr. Berezovsky needs the money for himself.”

Gorbunova is not the first woman seeking a substantial compensation for her years with the notorious Russian tycoon.

In 2011, his ex-wife Galina Besharova received what became the biggest divorce settlement in the UK – some 100 million pounds (over $150 million).

The Russian runaway oligarch`s fortune has significantly decreased in recent years due to the number of scandalous court cases that saw him paying millions of dollars in compensation and legal expenses.

The latter in the series was his court battle with another Russian oligarch and the owner of Chelsea football club, Roman Abramovich. Berezovsky accused Abramovich of using his ties with the Kremlin to make him sell Sibneft, a profitable oil company, at a low price in the 1990s.

Berezovsky lost the case in August 2012 and was left with paying bill for legal expenses reportedly reaching 40 million pounds (approximately over $63 million).

His lawyers also report that Berezovsky has cumulative debt around 200 million pounds (over $300 million).

As of 2012, Forbes estimated Berezovsky’s fortune at $700 million. However, the account may have included some assets the oligarch is no longer in procession of.

[TsarSamuil]

Berezovsky faces money-laundering charges in France.

RT.com
1 February, 2013, 00:13

Exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky may soon be charged with money laundering by a Marseilles court, the French daily La Provence reports.

A prosecutor in Marseilles has completed an investigation into the case against Berezovsky and has requested a court hearing, according to the paper.

The charges stem from accusations that Berezovsky laundered large sums of money which were potentially used in the purchase of three luxury properties in the French resort town of Antibes, including one 13 million euro Chateau he purchased in 1997.

According to Tracfin, the French service tasked with battling money laundering, funds used by Berezovsky to acquire real estate in France may have been embezzled from the Russian airline Aeroflot, La Provence reports.

Authorities have uncovered a vast offshore network of companies, tax havens, and loan transactions which Berezovsky allegedly used to conceal the embezzled funds. French authorities have seized some 74 million euros in property and assets from the embattled tycoon throughout the course of the investigation.

Judge Thierry Azema will review the evidence in the case, which was first opened in June 2011, before deciding whether to start legal proceedings against him. The case was first opened against Berezovsky in June 2011.

The potential charges Berezovsky faces in Marseille are only the latest in a series of legal woes, as the former Russian oligarch has recently been embroiled in a series of costly court battles.

In August Berezovsky lost a $5.6 billion dollar court battle against his former business partner Roman Abramovich in a highly publicized dispute over the ownership of the profitable oil company Sibneft. The case left his reputation in tatters, with the judge presiding over the case describing Berezovsky as an “unimpressive” and “inherently unreliable witness” who was “deliberately dishonest” and viewed “truth as a transitory, flexible concept.”

He was further ordered to pay Abramovich’s $56 million in legal costs.

Last week his legal troubles continued to compound after his ex-lover, Elena Gorbunova, claimed Berezovsky owes her $8 million in compensation over the sale of their $40 million residence in Surrey.

Gorbunova also secured an asset-freeze of two luxury properties Berezovsky is allegedly trying to sell in France which she claims were promised to her. The freeze, which was initially reported at $200 million but later reduced by the judge, will remain in place until the matter is settled in court.

Russian courts have sentenced Berezovsky in absentia for embezzling $2 billion from two major state companies, as well as for fraud and money-laundering.

Moscow has repeatedly requested his extradition, although British authorities have not complied.

[TsarSamuil]

Boris Berezovsky dead: Russia's tycoon dies at 67, reportedly commits suicide.

RussiaToday
Mar 23, 2013

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTzE5aLGHHE

Exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky has died in Britain at the age 67. According to the latest unofficial information, the businessman was found dead in his bath.

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rt.com/news/berezovsky-tycoon-dies-russia-723/

Russia's self-exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky dies at 67.

RT.com
March 23, 2013 16:32

British police have launched an investigation into the death of Boris Berezovsky. The 67-year-old businessman was found dead in a bath in his house near London, according to the latest unofficial information.

Thames Valley Police are currently treating the death as unexplained and a full inquiry is under way; they also refer to the found dead person just as "a 67-year-old man". The area around a property in Ascot, Berkshire, has been cordoned off to allow the investigation to take place.

The news from Britain first emerged on Facebook, where Berezovsky’s son-in-law Egor Schuppe posted a status, giving no details regarding the nature of his death. Damian Kudryavtsev, the former CEO of Kommersant Publishing House and a family friend, was one of the first to announce that the businessman died of heart attack at 11:00 GMT.

Aleksandr Dobrovinksy, a famous lawyer and head of the Moscow-based The Alexander Dobrovinsky & Partners law firm, was the first to suggest that Berezovsky could have committed suicide.

Speaking to RT he said: “Two people called me around 8pm saying Berezovsky had died. One told it was suicide, and the second person said he might have died of a heart attack. I previously heard from people close to Berezovsky that he was practically broke and utterly depressed. A person I know called me and said that Berezovsky even asked to borrow $ 5,000 for a ticket. He was also seriously ill.”

The body of Russian tycoon, who in early 1990’s was member of Boris Yeltsin’s inner circle but later turned into harsh critic of Vladimir Putin, was found in the bathroom of his Surrey estate, Russian Channel One reported.

The channel also said that Berezovsky had suffered several heart attacks over the course of last week.

Berezovsky’s spokesman Lord Tim Bell has confirmed that the body was found by a security guard.

A call to emergency services made from Berezovsky’s house was received at 15:18 GMT, LifeNews reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed of the incident, his spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Much of his wealth was built up during the so-called Perestroika period in 1990’s Russia. Capitalizing on a time of instability and opportunity Brerezovsky became the richest man in the post-Soviet country.

In 2008 Forbes estimated his fortune at $1.3 billion. However, over the past few years legal battles cost the tycoon dearly.

In August, Berezovsky lost a $5.6-billion court battle against Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in a highly publicized dispute over the ownership of the profitable oil company Sibneft. He was further ordered to pay Abramovich’s $56 million in legal costs.

Berezovsky’s son-in-law reportedly said the oligarch had been suffering from depression recently. Further noting that he failed to keep in touch with friends and acquaintances, and often chose to stay at home rather than go out.

Berezovsky made headlines earlier this week, after news broke that the tycoon was auctioning off an Andy Warhol portrait of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin. The oligarch was planning to sell his limited edition ‘Red Lenin’ print in hopes of paying off creditors and legal bills, the Times reported. The 1987 portrait has been estimated by Christie's to be worth between $45,000 and $75,000, and is reportedly in excellent condition.

Berezovsky left Russia in 2000, shortly after his relationship with President Putin and Russia’s government began to deteriorate. Just three weeks into Vladimir Putin’s first presidential term, details of the pairs spat became public knowledge.

He moved to London in 2001, where he was granted political asylum. Two years later Berezovsky was given new documents in the name of Platon Elenin, by the British Home Office.

Berezevsky’s battles with the Kremlin didn’t end with exit from Russia. In London the tycoon became the center of a circle of anti-Putin exiles, along with Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev and former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, who died of polonium poisoning in November 2006.

While Scotland Yard considers Andrey Lugovoi, who is currently serving as a deputy in Russia’s State Duma, a main suspect in the killing, Lugovoi himself points the finger of blame at exiled Berezovsky.

Commenting on the news from London, Dmitry Peskov claimed that recently Berezovsky had been in personal contact, asking the president for forgiveness for his “mistakes” and permission to return “to [his] motherland”.

“Some time ago, maybe a couple of months ago, Berezovsky addressed Putin in a letter, written by him personally, in which he admitted he made a lot of mistakes and was asking for forgiveness and to help him to return to the motherland,” Peskov told Russia 24 channel.

The prolific tycoon was put on Russia’s wanted list in 2001, around the time he fled the country, on charges of fraud and money-laundering, owing to a scandal involving Aeroflot airlines and an attempted violent power takeover.

In 2007, a Moscow court found him guilty in absentia of stealing 215 billion rubles from Aeroflot and sentenced him to six years behind bars.

The tycoon was given a total of 19 years in prison by a number of Russian courts over various charges. He claimed the cases against him were provoked by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

If Berezovsky’s death is officially confirmed it may be a reason to cancel all criminal cases against him, Interfax news agency reports citing a source “familiar with the situation”.

However, the unnamed source said that the investigation into cases against tycoon could remain open if his family wishes. If the investigation and criminal cases are canceled, it is possible the court ordered freeze on his key assets would be lifted, the source said. Interfax, noted that this information cannot be immediately confirmed.

[TsarSamuil]

Ukraine Freezes Berezovsky Assets at Russia’s Request.

MOSCOW, April 17 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine has frozen shares and property belonging to companies owned by the late self-exiled Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky following a request from Russia, Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said in a report on Wednesday.

The Russian oligarch had lived in self-imposed exile in Britain as an avowed Kremlin foe since 2000 until his death on March 23 this year. Russian authorities had launched a dozen cases against him on numerous charges, including fraud, failing to repatriate foreign currency revenues and abuse of office.

In Wednesday’s report to the Federation Council, devoted to the topic of law and order in Russia in 2012, Chaika said that Ukraine has imposed an arrest on “real estate owned by Berezovsky and returned 110 million rubles [$3.5 million] to the government of the Samara Region and [Russian flagship airline] Aeroflot,” who prosecutors allege suffered losses because of the businessman’s criminal activities.

Chaika also reported progress in international legal cooperation over other cases, including the freezing of more than $10 million in Liechtenstein bank accounts owned by former Bank of Moscow chief executive Andrei Borodin. The former banker at Russia's request is on the Interpol wanted list on charges of large-scale fraud involving state funds and also resides in London.

In addition, Chaika says, Switzerland froze bank accounts owned by ex-senator Igor Izmestyev, sentenced in 2010 to life behind bars on terrorism and murder charges.

In total, the Russian Prosecutor General’s office sent 61 requests for international legal assistance on corruption-related criminal cases in 2012.

Russian prosecutors sent 31 extradition requests for people charged with corruption-related offenses last year. Seven of them were approved, three were rejected and the remaining 21 are still under consideration.

[TsarSamuil]

Fugitive Russian Tycoon Leaves Israel, Heads to Cambodia.

BANGKOK, August 16 (RIA Novosti) - Fugitive Russian real estate tycoon Sergei Polonsky has left Israel out of fears for his safety and is now heading to Cambodia, his lawyers said on Friday.

Polonsky travelled to Israel earlier this year and sought the country’s citizenship. He is wanted in Russia in connection with the embezzlement of over 5.7 billion rubles ($176.2 million) from private investors in Moscow's Kutuzovskaya Milya residential construction project. A Moscow court issued an arrest warrant for him on Tuesday.

His lawyer Diana Tatosova said the businessman “had left Israel because a threat to his security emerged,” adding that his citizenship request is still being considered by the Israeli authorities.

The lawyer said in July that that Polonsky’s citizenship request was unconnected with the case against him in Russia. Later that month, the businessman published an open letter saying he was “not seeking to evade” justice and that he had been the victim of theft rather than being involved in fraud.

Russia is not the only country where Polonsky has run into problems with the law. He was arrested in Cambodia in December last year together with two friends after allegedly attacking the crew of a boat ferrying the three men from a Cambodian island to a nearby resort city. Cambodian justice authorities released him on bail earlier this year and allowed him to travel to Israel for medical treatment.

Polonsky’s Cambodian lawyer, speaking to RIA Novosti by phone from the resort city of Sihanoukville, said on Friday evening that the businessman has already arrived to the Thai capital Bangkok and is now on his way to Cambodia.

“Sergei’s friends told me that he would arrive to Cambodia tomorrow [on Saturday],” the lawyer said. “I have absolutely no idea of how and with what papers he travels. His passport is still with the police of Sihanoukville."

[TsarSamuil]

$273M in Assets of Late Oligarch Berezovsky Frozen in Serbia.

16:48 20/08/2013 (RIA Novosti)

Serbian media reported that Berezovsky owned the following local assets: 79 percent of dairy company Imlek, 100 percent of beverage maker Knjaz Milos, 65 percent of confectionary Bambi Banat, 87 percent of dairy company Mlekara Subotica, 11 percent of packaging recycler Sekopak, as well as stakes in several other firms.

The 67-year-old businessman was found by his bodyguard in the bathroom of his house in England on March 23. The results of a postmortem examination found the cause of death to be consistent with hanging.

British media reported that the former oligarch was on the verge of bankruptcy after losing several litigations against former business partners. Last year, he lost a case in London against fellow Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich and agreed to pay litigation costs of £35 million ($55 million).

Before his demise, Berezovsky was sued by his former girlfriend, Yelena Gorbunova, and Russian air carrier Aeroflot. Gorbunova filed a £5 million claim, while the Aeroflot stake remains unknown.

In his will, drafted nine days prior to his death, Berezovsky listed five potential executors, none of whom have yet agreed to take responsibility for the estate, including: two attorneys, old friend Yuli Dubov, daughter Ekaterina Berezovskaya, and Yelena Gorbunova. International accounting firm Grant Thornton has been court-appointed to deal with the estate in the meantime, until an executor is appointed.

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Serbian Court Unfreezes Berezovsky's Alleged Assets.

BELGRADE, August 21 (RAPSI) – The seizure of the late oligarch Boris Berezovsky's alleged assets in Serbian companies has been lifted, a Belgrade court said Wednesday.

The Court of Appeal found that Berezovsky's ownership of the assets was not proved.

According to a statement released by prosecutors on Tuesday, Serbian authorities had seized assets belonging to Berezovsky at the request of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office. The assets seized included 79 percent of dairy company Imlek, 100 percent of beverage maker Knjaz Milos and 65 percent of confectionary Bambi Banat, as well as stakes in several other firms, Serbian media reported Tuesday.

The body of the 67-year-old businessman was found by his bodyguard in the bathroom of his UK house in Ascot, Berkshire, on March 23. The results of a post-mortem examination found the cause of death to be consistent with hanging.

The British media reported that the former oligarch was on the verge of bankruptcy after losing several litigations against former business partners. In 2012, he lost a case in London against fellow Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich and agreed to pay litigation costs of £35 million ($55 million).

Before his demise Berezovsky was sued by his former girlfriend Yelena Gorbunova and Russian air carrier Aeroflot. Gorbunova filed a £5 million claim, while the Aeroflot stake remains unknown.

In his will, drafted nine days prior to his death, Berezovsky listed five potential executors, none of whom have yet agreed to take responsibility for the estate, including two attorneys old friend Yuly Dubov, daughter Yekaterina Berezovskaya, and Yelena Gorbunova. International accounting firm Grant Thornton has been court-appointed to deal with the estate until an executor is appointed.