Russia's Abramovich paid for favours, protection: report
LONDON (AFP) — Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich paid billions of dollars for political favours and in protection fees to build up his fortune, British newspaper The Times said Saturday, citing court papers.
Abramovich paid older oligarchs so he could get a share of Russia's oil and aluminium assets -- and to escape unharmed from the post-Soviet carve-up, the daily said.
It was the first time Abramovich had explained in his own words how, within a few years, he managed to amass a fortune estimated at 11.4 billion pounds (22.6 billion dollars) and emerged triumphant after the "aluminium wars" in which more than 100 people are thought to have been killed in gangland violence, said The Times.
The newspaper said it was quoting from a 52-page defence document in Abramovich's court battle with Boris Berezovsky, his old mentor and fellow Russian oligarch in London.
Abramovich, 41, is being sued by Berezovsky at the London Commercial Court over claims the 62-year-old was forced to sell shares in Russian oil company Sibneft, aluminium giant Rusal and television channel ORT at bargain prices.
Berezovsky has lived in Britain since 2000 after falling out with former Russian president Vladimir Putin.
In the papers quoted by The Times, Abramovich accuses Berezovsky, plus the late Georgian Badri Patarkatsishvili, of demanding huge sums of money to help him emerge from obscurity.
Abramovich admitted paying Berezovsky because of his influence over president Boris Yeltsin to secure the oil business.
"Prior to the August 1995 decree, the defendant informed Mr Berezovsky that he wished to acquire a controlling interest in Sibneft on its creation," the defence papers stated.
"In return for the defendant agreeing to provide Mr Berezovsky with funds he required in connection with the cash flow of ORT, Mr Berezovsky agreed he would use his personal and political influence to support the project and assist in the passage of the necessary legislative steps leading to the creation of Sibneft."
Abramovich then targeted the aluminium industry and admitted he owed his success to Patarkatsishvili.
Abramovich offered the Georgian some 500 million dollars, the defence papers said, for protecting him in the "aluminium wars".
"Mr Patarkatsishvili did ... provide assistance to the defendant in the defendant's acquisition of assets in the Russian aluminium industry," the papers read.
Patarkatsishvili, who was found dead aged 52 at his home outside London in February, due to apparent heart disease, had a reputation as a go-between with organised crime, The Times said.
The papers say that Patarkatsishvili and Abramovich had a showdown at a Swiss airport in 2001 when the Georgian asked him to pay 1.3 billion dollars to Berezovsky.
"The defendant agreed to pay this amount on the basis that it would be the final request for payment by Mr Berezovsky and that he and Mr Patarkatsishvili would cease to associate themselves publicly with him and his business interests."
When asked to comment, John Mann, a spokesman for Abramovich and his Millhouse Capital holding company, told AFP: "It is an ongoing matter. While the case is ongoing, we won't be making any comments on it".
Berezovsky said the newspaper's account of the court papers was accurate. When asked if the claims in the court papers were correct or not, he added: "It's not my job, it's the job of my lawyers".
