- Abramovich, who is now under heavy sanctions by the British government, was set to win a fraudulent bid to buy Sibneft in the mid-1990s. Thanks to him, the Russian oligarchy earned billions of dollars in the past
- The then President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin himself, had to protect Abramovich from the judiciary. In turn, the prosecutor who handles the case of forged bid was rejected due to another mysterious scandal
- The BBC also found documents describing another alleged bid that Abramovich was to win … due to the kidnapping of a representative of the Chinese company
- More such stories can be found on the homepage of Onet.pl
The BBC says Abramovich made billions of dollars after he bought the Sibneft oil company from the Russian government in 1995. According to British television, the bid to buy the company was then rigged. The owner of Chelsea paid “only” $250 million, and ten years later he sold it to the government for … $13 billion.
According to the BBC, Abramovich has pleaded guilty in a British court to corrupt payments related to the Sibneft deal. In 2012, the Russian billionaire was sued in England by his former assistant Boris Berezovsky. It was Abramovich who won the case, but he admitted to the court that the tender to buy Sibneft was fraudulent and that he transferred nearly $10 million to his former partner “under the table.”
The BBC is shedding new light on the matter, and Abramovich’s past activities appear darker and more mysterious.
The protective umbrella of Boris Yeltsin and the mysterious dismissal of the prosecutor
Journalists of the British TV station found a key document in this case, which was most likely smuggled from Russia. It presents the results of a parliamentary investigation in 1997, proving that during the above transactions, the Russian government was defrauded of $2.7 billion. The document also notes that the Russian billionaire was protected by the then head of state, Boris Yeltsin.
BBC journalists also contacted Prosecutor Yuri Skuratov, who was investigating at the time. The Russian described what was the procedure for Abramovich’s acquisition of Sibneft. – In fact, it was a fraudulent scheme in which those who participated in the privatization formed a single criminal group that allowed Abramovich and Berezovsky to deceive the government and not pay the money that this company was already owed – – said Skuratov in an interview with the BBC.
In the documents smuggled from Russia there is information that the investigation of the aforementioned Prosecutor General was stopped by President Boris Yeltsin himself. In turn, the Prosecutor General Skuratov was released … Officially, because of the sex tape revealed in 1999, the Russian himself says that it was framed so that his investigation could be stopped.
Another tender and the alleged kidnapping of a Chinese delegate
Documents found by BBC journalists contain information about another allegedly fraudulent tender. It happened at the beginning of the XXI century and it concerned the Russian oil company called Slavneft.
Abramovich wanted to buy it, but a Chinese company would have made an offer almost twice that. According to the BBC, if the Chinese win the bid, it could seriously harm many influential people associated with the Kremlin.
Documents smuggled from Russia say that in the end the Chinese company was forced to withdraw from the tender after one of its representatives was kidnapped in Moscow. He was only released after the Chinese company announced its withdrawal from the bid.
The BBC asserts that there is no evidence that Roman Abramovich himself was aware of or took an active part in the kidnapping. However, the facts are that the Chinese company unexpectedly withdrew from the bid, and only Abramovich’s bid was left on the table. Therefore, the Russian oligarch was able to buy Slavneft at a very discounted price.
Both stories happened more than twenty years ago, and Abramovich was not punished in any way by the Russian judiciary. His lawyers say that the thesis that the Russian oligarch made a large part of his fortune through criminal activities is untenable.
It is reported that Abramovich was subjected to sanctions by the British government last week due to his close relations with Vladimir Putin, whose forces are currently invading the territory of Ukraine on a large scale. Abramovich’s fortune was frozen, and the oligarch himself ceased to be the manager of Chelsea FC. Everything indicates that the club will soon be in the hands of a new owner.
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