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Russia’s former chief prosecutor, Yuri Skuratov, told the BBC that Roman Abramovich made “fraudulent deals.”
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Skuratov investigated Abramovich’s purchase of Russian gas company Sibneft in 1995.
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Abramovich bought Sibneft in 1995 for $250 million. A decade later, he sold it back for $13 billion.
Russia’s former chief prosecutor, Yuri Skuratov, has told the BBC that Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich gained his wealth through “fraudulent deals.”
A BBC investigation looked into how Abramovich made his money, focusing on deals that he conducted with the Russian government in the 1990s.
According to the report, in 1995 Abramovich purchased Russian oil company Sibneft from the government at an auction for $250 million – and sold it back for $13 billion a decade later.
The report, citing Skuratov and a confidential source, alleged that Abramovich initially bought the company at a “rigged auction” through a “fraudulent scheme” with his former business associate, Boris Berezovsky.
A representative for Abramovich did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Skuratov served as Russia’s Prosecutor General from 1995 to 1999 and investigated the deal at the time.
“Basically, it was a fraudulent scheme, where those who took part in the privatization formed one criminal group that allowed Abramovich and Berezovsky to trick the government and not pay the money that this company was really worth,” Skuratov told BBC.
Skuratov was forced to resign in 1999 after a political battle with then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin which culminated in the release of a video allegedly showing Skuratov in his office with two sex workers. The purported authenticity of the video was confirmed by Vladimir Putin, then the head of the FSB, Russia’s spy agency. It was released just as Skuratov planned to share the names of Russian oligarchs taking bribes from a Swiss firm.
“This whole thing was obviously political, because in my investigations I came very close to the family of Boris Yeltsin, including via this investigation of the Sibneft privatization,” Skuratov added.
According to the BBC, in 2012 Berezovsky sued Abramovich, arguing that he had coerced him into selling Sibneft shares by blackmailing him. He sought billions of dollars in damages.
Berezovsky lost the case. But, according to the BBC, Abramovich testified at the trial that he gave Berezovsky $10 million at the time of the Sibneft purchase to pay off a Russian official.
Last Thursday, Abramovich was formally sanctioned by the UK government for “preferential treatment and concessions from Putin.” His assets in the country, including Chelsea FC, were seized by the UK government. The soccer club will use a special license from the government to keep operating for the remainder of its season.
Abramovich, who has an estimated net worth of $13.6 billion, purchased Chelsea’s parent company in 2003 for $230 million.
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