The arrest of Vladimir Yevtushenkov, the largest stakeholder in one of Russia's biggest private corporations, will deal another blow to Russia's already decimated investment climate and is emblematic of the state's attitude toward private property, analysts said Wednesday.
Yevtushenkov, who was placed under house arrest in his estate west of Moscow on Tuesday, is accused of laundering shares in the Bashneft oil company, which investigators say was illegally acquired by Yevtushenkov's Sistema.
Bashneft, one of Russia's largest oil producers, was acquired by the Sistema conglomerate from the government of the Bashkortostan republic for $2.5 billion in April 2009. The company paid $2 billion up front, with the remaining $500 million planned to be paid during the next 14 months. However, a month later an additional agreement was signed that set the final price at $2 billion.
The Investigative Committee says that the $500 million difference was not legal and amounts to embezzlement. Interfax news agency reported Wednesday that an international arrest warrant had been issued for Ural Rakhimov, the son of Bashkortostan's former president Murtaza Rakhimov. Ural Rakhimov was head of Bashneft when it was owned by Bashkortostan and oversaw the deal.
Sistema said in a press release that it considers the accusations "completely ungrounded."
Yevtushenkov himself denies any wrongdoing, Interfax cited a source close to the investigation as saying. After being summoned for questioning to the Investigative Committee over the Bashneft case in July, he told Vedomosti that "a raider-style seizure" of the company was possible, without specifying a possible perpetrator.
Bashneft was planning a secondary public offering of its shares in London this fall in order to make the ownership structure more secure.
INC News, 17/09/2014
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