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Today, December 6, "Okna" a weekly pullout of Vesti" newspaper, published an interview with businessman Michael Chernoy, who is permanently residing in Israel. Among other things, he dwelt on issues related to a resounding scandal about wiretapping of M. Chernoy and A. Lieberman.
Journalist Sergey Podrazhansky kindly sent to our editorial office the text of the interview with the businessman.
The text has been abridged. See the full version in the issue of "Okna" dated December 6, 2007.
- Michael, let's take the bull by the horns. Word goes public that Deripaska financed this operation. Do the Russian special services have a finger in it?
- I wouldn't say so. The oligarchs close to the Kremlin would hardly need it. Nowadays, these people have wielded great power and are practically immune to the Law, especially when they try to present their personal rivals as "enemies of Russia." What is exactly Deriapska is trying to do in my case. He doesn't understand that his game mars the reputation of Russia more than it mars mine. Now, another smear campaign he launched has flunked - as wise people say, "nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest." However, many in the West, financial and mass media lords including, do not draw a line between the Kremlin and Deripaska, while he himself is trumpeting that he "draws a line between himself and the State. I wish he really would because Russia is not his private shop.
- What has provoked such a vicious attack against you? Could it be the lawsuit you had filed?
- Deripaska has brazen-facedly broken a contract we sealed back in 2001 in London, so a year ago I brought a suit against him in Great Britain. In response he launched a worldwide campaign against me, mean, malicious and very costly. He has a whole team in Russia in charge of black PR operations against his foes, it is the so-called "Eurasian Group." Its head, Alexey Drobashenko, was the main curator of Eskin&Co. Just note how much money they have poured into it: hundreds of posters featuring Avigdor Lieberman as my poodle, hundreds of billboards defaming Lieberman, two anonymous websites, lobbies in the Knesset, "human rights activists" of all sorts who following his orders demanded my expatriation out of the blue filing inquiries to all instances. Wiretapping was the last straw.
- Channel 2 of the ITV reported that the implicated figures have been collecting about 84.000 USD a month for it in Israel alone. As for Russia, they have commissioned to black PR experts a smearing book about me. They tried to corrupt the Russian MPs and prosecutors to launch a suit about some counterfeited aviso (invoices) in the beginning of 1900s! In England, they attempted to bribe the leading newspapers into publishing defaming articles about me. They even tried to bribe members of parliament. In the USA, they hired a major private investigation agency, "Diligence" which had to coordinate the hunt for Chernoy in Moscow, Israel and England.
- If Deripaska is waging a battle against you, then why did this operation target Lieberman as well, having in mind all the defaming posters and wiretapping?
- They wanted to kill two birds with one stone (read - one financial injection.) On the one hand, they have been collecting fake defaming materials about him trying to raise hell and convince the public opinion that I was allegedly "corrupting the vice PM." On the other hand, this campaign brought grist to the mill of Lieberman's political rivals: they had a chance to wreck Lieberman for the money of foreign sponsors.
- What makes you and Lieberman such close friends?
- And what's wrong about it? No one in Israel thinks that friendship between Haim Saban and Shimon Perez, for instance, should raise concern. To put it short, the Israeli oligarchy is bound by partisan principles. As for my friendship with Lieberman, we became close twelve years ago when I first moved to Israel. We met by chance and realized we had much in common. Lieberman was a self-made man in politics, same as I was in business. There was no "mommy, daddy or Communist party" behind us. In terms of Israeli rules, we belonged to no clan, had neither army cronies nor trade union supporters. All we had were brains and willpower; no umbrellas were spread over us. Just like me he started from scratch and was a man of principle. I am sure he would never trade our land or shilly-shally with the enemies of Israel. I would describe his stand in the following way: as long as the previous governments have brought us to an "Oslo deadlock" and so far we cannot backtrack on these agreements, then let's at least raise the issue of the "fifth column." We cannot afford a million of disloyal Arab citizens, while in the Palestinian Authority there's not a single Jew.
- Well, what you say now bears out the worst suspicions of corruption fighters; it's a blow against Lieberman.
- Sergey, this is a provocation! I'm simply answering your question about what had brought me close to Lieberman. I just explain what I like about him. Neither he cares about my PR nor I care about his.
- Let's turn back to Deripaska. I'm sorry Michael, but people call you his "godfather." You have ushered him into the aluminum business, raised and promoted him and then let him manage your assets. Am I right?
- Much to my regret, you are right. Then, back in Russia, I thought I couldn't be wrong in my judgements about people. Yet, I have judged wrongly about many, Deripaska is not an exception. To many of them huge money proved to be too heavy a burden, the others yielded to pressure. Among my closer circle many didn't like Oleg's conduct. They said he was totally unscrupulous in pursuing his ends. Nevertheless, back then I thought they were driven by jealousy.
- Have there been any corpses in the "aluminum wars?"
- As long as I was in Russia, that is till 1994, no one was killed, either among my managers, or partners, or competitors, even if the competition was fierce. When I left I gave the steering wheel to my younger partners, who were running our business in Russia, i.e. to Oleg Deripaska and Iskander Mahmudov. As time passed, rumors reached me about turf wars, account settling and forceful seizure of property. Even if I heard about such things in other spheres of business in Russia - banking, oil, etc. - to me it was inadmissible. Those who know me would confirm that I'm a diplomat in business - I would always seek a compromise. I asked Deripaska and other partners whether we had anything to do with this account settling and they assured me that we had not. Other big businessmen who are now compelled to live abroad have also erred in their choice of people. I believe that any man nearing his sixties bears a burden of mistakes, disappointments and betrayals. As for Deripaska, it is clear to me that he proved to be a good manager and business fixer, however, in purely human terms he turned out to be a traitor. Even now he wouldn't stop trying to elbow his way into the world business elite, but mind you, he would shortchange his Western partners in a moment he would see right. What seems even sadder to me is the fact that in Israel he has a whole pack of hirelings that started a hunt for me, a Jew who means only good and nothing but good to Israel. These people are toeing the line before a man who is totally indifferent to the interests of Israel.
- The e-correspondence between Drobashenko and Russian-origin Israelis: Eskin, Eidelman, Rosenfeld, Bibichkov, etc., has leaked to the Internet. In their e-mails they boast that a broad network of Knesset members and even ministers of Kadima are working for them. Have you seen these letters and what do you think of them?
- Yes, I have seen these e-mails. At first I wouldn't believe my eyes. I wouldn't believe that such a web had been spun to work against me. Of course, I have always known that all the "inquiries" by phony human rights activists demanding to deprive me of Israeli citizenship are a part of a well-organized campaign. I will sue all the plotters who were dogging me. To tell you the truth, the Israeli people are wrong thinking that this is a mere squabble in the "Russian Street." In fact, this is an undermining activity, an invasion of foreign capital into the political life of Israel, which borders on espionage. Today they pour a couple of million dollars to defame and oust the Israeli vice premier. What about tomorrow? Are they ready to pour a dozen millions to bring to power a government that would suit them?
- Do you really think that the abovementioned MPs and ministers literally took money for chasing you?
- Not necessarily. You know that black PR is a more refined mechanism. Lobbyists would tour high offices promising political dividends to Knesset members, pledged to arrange interviews with Russian mass media, visits to Russia, etc. Some raised to other baits, lending ear to statements about the "ideological differences" between them and Lieberman. Such was the case of Rahn Cohen of MERETZ or the far-rights, on the other end of the specter. Then they would say: "Look, the far lefts, the far rights and the centrists are against Chernoy. Don't you believe that all have been bought? Actually they have been bought, but some for money, some for words. What really hurts me is the destiny of our mini-state. This "account-settling" makes Jews to pursue internecine feuds instead of uniting against a common enemy. Currently, Israel is in a very dangerous situation: we, the Jews, must team up. However, "the wind returns again according to its circle." The temple is besieged and the Jews inside go on slaughtering each other.
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When Oleg Deripaska's UC Rusal floated plans for a $9bn-plus listing last year, the share issue from the outset was a test case for whether a company forged out of an industry once wracked with crime could win a London listing. The flotation had already been delayed last September when its shareholders - including Mr
Deripaska, who owns 66 per cent of UC Rusal via his vast Basic Element industrial
conglomerate - cited poor market conditions for the postponement.
Now, as Rusal moves to expand via a merger with Norilsk Nickel, the suggestion by a senior executive at Basic Element that the company could seek a listing in Hong Kong over London because of tightening regulatory requirements suggests deeper-seated problems are to blame.
The float of what is one of the world's biggest aluminium producers has been dogged by legal claims from the start. But by far the biggest shadow has been cast by Michael Cherney, a controversial founding father of Russia's aluminium industry, who has laid claim to a 20 per cent stake in UC Rusal, the holding he claims is owed from what he describes as a 50-50 partnership with Mr Deripaska for most of the 1990s.
Mr Cherney last month filed an amended claim in the London High Court for the stake and filed for permission for the suit to be served on Mr Deripaska outside the UK, or on his London lawyers, the Financial Times has learned. In addition, documents set to be filed as part of the claim, and seen by the FT, provide a partial view for the first time of what Mr Cherney claims was their 50:50 ownership of aluminium holdings via a Liechtenstein foundation, Radom.
Mr Deripaska's spokesperson said his client's position was that "he does not owe Mr Cherney any money and Mr Cherney does not have and is not entitled to a share in Rusal".
Both sides, however, appear to be engaged in a game of chicken, with it being advantageous to neither side to end up in court.
For Mr Deripaska, keen to shake off his past rise through an industry scarred with 1990s-era gangland wars and reposition himself as a leading Russian industrial titan, any investigation of this era in court could open up a can of worms.
Mr Deripaska has denied in an interview with the FT that he ever worked in partnership with Mr Cherney. "This person has nothing to do with my business," he said. Mr Cherney could also face problems in court: The March 2001 agreement on which Mr Cherney rests his claim, seen by the FT, is laid out on two pages only.
It sets out a deal in which Mr Cherney first of all agrees to sell 17.5 per cent of Sibirsky Aluminium, or Sibal, to Mr Deripaska for $100m, while Mr Deripaska is also bound to pay off $150m in debt owed to a trading company owned by Mr Cherney. The second part of the agreement binds Mr Deripaska to pay Mr Cherney for a 20 per cent stake in Rusal, the company that Sibal was merged into, within five years of the date of the agreement. The agreement does not even lay out important details such as whether it is to be governed by English law. Nor does it specify in which currency the monies are to be paid, although the
court document refers to US dollars.
The claim filed in the London High Court, seen by the FT, asserts the agreement maps out a deal in which "Mr Deripaska would hold 20 per cent of the shares in Rusal for Mr Cherney" and in which "Mr Deripaska was to pay a first instalment of some $250m as an advance payment."
The claim is not clear about the date when the agreement was reached or about whether it was signed in the Lanesborough or the Berkeley Hotel in London.
Documents seen by the FT, however, map out their joint holdings in Sibal, via Radom, a Liechtenstein Foundation. It is not clear what happened to Radom after 1999.
A letter to Radom's directors in Liechtenstein signed by Mr Deripaska maps how a vast web of offshore companies that gathered aluminium trading profits was held by a Luxembourg-based parent company, Alincor SA. In the letter, dated April 26 1999, Mr Deripaska's legal attache, Stalbeck Mishakov, instructed the Liechtenstein directors that the Alincor "shares will be later transferred to the shareholders of the Radom Foundation after we decide in what way they can hold directly the
registered shares of Alincor SA".
Mr Deripaska held 50 per cent of Radom through his Cole Foundation, while Mr Cherney held the remaining half through his Galenit Foundation, according to Radom's founding declaration dated October 31 1997.
A memo on details of a meeting between Mr Deripaska and his partners with the
Liechtenstein directors at Syndikus Treuhandanstalt on December 14 1998 says: "Mr
Deripaska signs the contract for a mandate for Cole Foundation ... with him being placed as first beneficiary, his mother as second beneficiary and Pavel Ezoubov - as the third".
It says Mr Deripaska was signing all payment orders for the Radom group. The partnership - which Mr Cherney says began in 1994 - hit problems when Russian anti-trust authorities began to examine a deal in which Mr Deripaska sought to merge Sibal with Roman Abramovich's Russian Aluminium, Mr Cherney said.
He said Mr Deripaska had told him the Russian authorities would not approve the deal if Mr Cherney was involved.
Mr Cherney, who by that time was living outside Russia in Israel, had fallen afoul of the Russian authorities. An interior minister in the late 1990s had named him in connection with organised crime.
Mr Cherney says there was a campaign by his business enemies to blacken his name. Mr Deripaska's spokesperson said he would not be commenting on the detail of the case because there was a legal process.
A previous attempt to serve Mr Deripaska's bodyguard with the suit in London was found to be invalid after a judge ruled this summer that Mr Deripaska was not domiciled in the UK.
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Read more... - Web of mystery surro...
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Macedonia’s parliament will meet on March 31 to debate the latest proposals to settle the dispute over its name with neighbouring Greece, Associated Press reported on March 28. The solution put forth by United Nations special envoy on the issue, Matthew Nimetz, has been
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Read more... - Macedonian parliamen...
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Kranevo is a resort village on the seaside. The sea is shallow and allows safe baths for children. The name of the village comes from Kraneia fortress. In 1968 mineral water 24°C was found in the site. Kranevska River is flowing close by the village. The climate is strongly influenced by the sea. The summer is sunny and hot.
Kranevo is a small village 24 kilometers north- east of Varna.. It is known as a resort for small kids, where they go for their vacation - many school camps you can find here. Also, this place would be suitable for those on a budget. Accommodation could be found amongst the big number of private rooms offered.The beach is wide and covered with light sand. Sea is shallow with slight inclination. Just by the coastline are situated the camps “International” and “Exotic”. North from Kranevo is the valley of Batova river. Albena - a world of quality service and value! Albena - a delight for all ages - sandy beach, crystal sea, and as much or as little action as you need, Albena has something for everyone.
The resort hotels are located in a natural environment, either right on the beach or on the nearby hills which command a splendid views of the sea.
There are total of 14,900 beds in 43 hotels, 5 holiday villages and 1 campsite. It has 1 four-star, 17 three-star and 22 two-star hotels. The resort is intent on offering its guests the best it can by constantly improving hotel facilities and the standard of service. The resort of Golden Sands is the largest one on the Northern Black Sea coast (more than 1800 hectares). It is situated 19 km north-east of Varna, 490 km east of Sofia. North of the resort is the village of Kranevo and south is Chaika holiday village. Golden Sands merges with the St. St. Konstantin and Elena Resort and Riviera resort. The area is famous for the purest sand on the Black Sea coast. In Turkish times it was called Ouzounkoum - the long sands.
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More than half of Bulgarians seeking to buy property will use mortgage loans to finance the purchase, a survey commissioned by Raiffeisenbank and carried out by GfK Bulgaria showed, as quoted by Bulgaria news agency (BTA). The survey, carried out between January 7 and 15, covered individuals aged between 26 and 55 in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Bourgas, Rousse, Pleven and Stara Zagora. Mortgage loans are thus the most popular means of financing, with only 17 per cent planning to pay with their own money, and eight per cent would sign hire-purchase agreements.
About 5.4 per cent of respondents said that they have used a loan in the last five years and 10.2 per cent said they planned to use one in the next two years. Bulgarians prefer to own their home, the survey shows. Until recently, living in rented property was a viable alternative for young people early in their careers, but acquiring one's own property has become a goal for many Bulgarians lately, GfK Bulgaria said. According to its analysts, increasingly easier access to bank funding in recent years has given a new impetus to the traditional consumer preference to own a home. However, Levon Hampartzoumyan, chief executive of UniCredit Bulbank, has recently warned potential buyers that a purchase of an average apartment cost the equivalent of a 20-year rent, and with taxes, maintenance costs and other expenses factored in, it was not yet clear whether it was better to rent or own. Some 79.3 per cent of respondents in the survey said they owned property. In this group, 84.9 per cent owned an apartment, 30.1 per cent owned a house, and 26.5 per cent owned land. Asked how they acquired their apartment, 36.5 per cent said they paid for it with their own money, and 11.2 per cent said they used a mortgage loan from a bank. The main methods of acquisition was either by inheritance or by personal savings. One in five respondents said that they intended to acquire property in the next three years. More than half of the people in that group (55.4 per cent) want to buy brick housing, with prefab concrete housing attracting little interest - 18.3 per cent, while 19.3 per cent wanted to buy a house. Half of those who are planning to buy property said it would be located on the outskirts of a town, while 31 per cent planned to buy property downtown, and 13 per cent - in a village. |
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John Cutts, the founder and chief executive of commercial property developer Parkridge, is continuing his expansion into East Europe, the Financial Times reported on February 27. Although the his initial plans envisaged expansion to Poland, given its key location, he also saw good opportunities for investment in retail compounds in Bulgaria and Ukraine. Seven retail centres have been erected in Warsaw since Parkridge set foot on the Polish market, which means that it might be over-supplied soon, the developer said. He added that the Czech Republic used to offer good potential, but it faced a similar problem of reaching its capacity for absorbing commercial establishments. Cutts’ strategy now is to focus on smaller cities, with a population of 100 000 to 200 000 people, where competition for retail space is limited. He also plans to apply his strategy to the Ukrainian and Bulgarian market. Bulgaria has a potential for opening eight commercial centres and Ukraine has capacity for 20 compounds, he said, citing the number of towns with a population of around 300 000 people The entrepreneur has declared that he will not invest in shopping centres in large cities like Kiev. They offer better opportunities for investment in logistic developments instead, he believes. The company also has a sound interest in Russia and Romania, where it will concentrate on industrial space, whereas Kazakhstan offers good opportunities for both retail and industrial investment. John Cutts, who owns a 40 per cent share in Parkridge, ranked 229 in the UK's rich list, has a personal fortune of 320 million pounds, according to The Sunday Times ratings for 2007. However, he is relatively unknown outside his business activities, which are focused primarily in the industrial and retail sector. |
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