-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: August 31, 2007 1:44:40 AM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: "Londongrad" Acquires Another Russian Oil-Oligarch
From Russia with $3 billion -- Another Putin opponent may have fled
to London
Luke Harding in Moscow
The Guardian, August 30, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2158599,00.html
Mikhail Gutseriyev, the former CEO of Russian oil producer Russneft,
in his then office in Moscow. Photograph: Dmitry Dukhanin/AFP
Relations between Russia and Britain were facing fresh turbulence
yesterday after a billionaire oligarch wanted by the Kremlin for
tax evasion was reported to have escaped to London. Mikhail
Gutseriyev - the former head of one of Russia's largest private oil
firms - disappeared from Russia last week. On Tuesday a court in
Moscow issued a warrant for his arrest.
Last month Mr Gutseriyev stepped down from his oil company,
RussNeft, citing "unprecedented bullying" by Vladimir Putin's
government. Mr Gutseriyev - whose personal fortune is estimated at
$3bn - accused the Kremlin of "illegally" forcing him out of
business using trumped-up tax claims.
Yesterday Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported that Mr Gutseriyev
had fled to London, apparently taking his billions with him.
Quoting "unofficial sources", the paper said he had slipped past
Russian investigators and gone to the UK.
Mr Gutseriyev's whereabouts was unclear last night. But the case
has the potential to exacerbate the government's already brittle
relations with Moscow. Mr Putin regularly denounces Britain as a
haven for "criminals and terrorists" following Britain's refusal to
send home the London-based former oligarch Boris Berezovsky.
Numerous Russian dissidents and opponents of the Putin regime now
live in London. They include Mr Berezovsky - who enjoys political
asylum and is Mr Putin's biggest critic - the Chechen rebel leader
Akhmed Zakayev, the former Kommersant journalist Yelena Tregubova,
and executives from the bankrupt oil company Yukos.
Last night prominent members of London's Russian community said
there had been persistent rumours over the past few days that Mr
Gutseriyev had fled Russia to set up in the UK. The Home Office
refused to comment on the reports.
Mr Berezovsky said: "I know him and although I don't have an
especially close relationship with him I will help if he gets in
touch, although he will not need all that much help because he has
big experience abroad and he has money." Mr Berezovsky said he
expected more Russians to come to London because the UK's legal
system offered protection from what he described as Russia's
"gangster" government.
Any application by Mr Gutseriyev for political asylum in the UK
will infuriate the Kremlin. Mr Putin has already accused Britain of
"stupidity" for trying to extradite Andrei Lugovoi - the former KGB
agent charged with the murder and poisoning of the Russian
dissident Alexander Litvinenko. Last month both countries expelled
four of each other's diplomats.
Mr Gutseriyev was last seen in Russia attending the funeral of his
British-educated son, who died last week following a mysterious car
crash, Kommersant reported. Chingiskhan <="Genghis Khan" -- you
gotta wonder about the mindset of a guy who names his son after a
mad tyrant who is hated in Russia!> Gutseriyev, 22, was educated at
Harrow and Warwick University. He apparently died from trauma after
possibly crashing his Ferrari. Police and hospitals in Moscow,
however, say they have no record of a crash.
Mr Gutseriyev's woes appear to have started after he bought up
assets from the oil firm Yukos. On July 30 he published a damning
letter accusing the Russian authorities of using regulation as a
pretext to grab back oil and gas assets from Russian and western
companies.
He wrote: "They made me an offer to leave the oil business, to
leave on 'good terms'. I refused. Then, to make me more amenable,
they tightened the screws on the company with unprecedented
persecution." The letter marked the most significant public
challenge to Mr Putin from a leading businessman since the
imprisonment four years ago of the former chairman of Yukos Oil,
Mikhail Khordorkovsky.
Khordorkovsky was jailed for eight years in 2004 for tax evasion
and fraud. The case was widely seen as political punishment for his
refusal to stop funding anti-Kremlin opposition parties ahead of
2004 elections. The oligarch, once Russia's richest man, is now in
jail in Siberia.
Yesterday Russian newspapers dubbed Mr Gutseriyev a "second
Mikhail" - a reference to Khordorkovsky. They predicted that, like
Yukos, his RussNeft oil empire would be swiftly dismantled, sold
off, and most probably absorbed into a new state-run firm.
Russian investigators have already seized the firm and accuse Mr
Gutseriyev of failing to pay $800m in tax.
Mr Gutseriyev, 47, was one of Russia's most successful Muslim
businessmen, and according to Forbes magazine is Russia 31st
richest man.
Last month he announced that following government pressure he was
selling his firm to the pro-Kremlin oligarch and billionaire tycoon
Oleg Deripaska. Yesterday Kommersant said the deal had already gone
through -- with Mr Gutseriyev pocketing $3bn.
Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL.com.
www.ctrl.org
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceânot soap-boxingâplease! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'âwith its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright fraudsâis used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/
<A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om