Mikhail Fridman Once Again Challenged to a Duel
// Boris Berezovsky accuses him of lying
Honor and dignity
Boris Berezovsky, the owner of Kommersant Publishing House, announced yesterday that he had filed suit in London's Crown Court against Mikhail Fridman, the head of Alfa Group. The reason for the suit was Fridman's appearance on the NTV talk show "K Baryeru" [Challenge to a Duel], in which the latter claimed that Berezovsky threatened him in 1999 in connection with Alfa Bank's plan to grant credit to “partners” of Vladimir Yakovlev, then owner of Kommersant Publishing House, to buy out the newspaper's shares. Berezovsky is asking for compensation for damage caused to him by, in his words, this false claim and that the defendant undertake not to make such claims in future.
On October 28, 2004, Mikhail Fridman, the head of Alfa Group, and Andrey Vasilyev, the general manager of ZAO Kommersant Publishing House, were guests on the NTV talk show "K Baryeru". A rather heated argument flared up between them over the article "The Bank Crisis Comes Out into the Street" published in Kommersant on July 7, 2004, which reported on lineups of depositors wanting to withdraw their money from Moscow branches of Alfa Bank. We remind our readers that this article was the cause of a claim filed by the bank in the Moscow Arbitration Court to collect losses and compensation for reputational damage totaling 320.5 million rubles from ZAO Kommersant Publishing House (the claim was initially allowed in full, but a court of appeal reduced the amount collectible by 10 million rubles in December of last year; and a week ago, the Federal Arbitration Court of the Moscow District reduced the amount by another 270 million rubles).
In the broadcast of "K Baryeru" cited above, Fridman said in particular that he had plans to grant credit to minority Kommersant shareholders who had applied to him in order to buy out the publication from owner Vladimir Yakovlev. According to Fridman, at the same time, a very displeased Boris Berezovsky, who planned to acquire the publishing house, called him and threatened him.
Berezovsky told a Russian news agency yesterday he had decided to file suit against Fridman in London's Crown Court. An Alfa Bank executive, who wished to remain anonymous, told Kommersant yesterday that there would be no comment from Fridman or from the bank's press service. “We don't know whether a suit has been filed. We want to wait for the official documents. We are not taking Mr. Berezovsky's claim very seriously, and we ask the press to address itself him for comments.” In turn, Berezovsky gave his lawyer the opportunity to comment on the situation to Kommersant.
Andy Stevenson, Berezovsky's lawyer, told Kommersant that his client's statement of claim contained two demands. “First, compensation for damage, the amount of which is determined by the court in Great Britain; and second, the inadmissibility of repeating this statement [of the alleged threats] in future.' According to the lawyer, he is hoping to prove that this case falls under English jurisdiction, since the NTV broadcast was shown in Great Britain. In addition, the lawyer reminded Kommersant, Berezovsky already had a similar legal precedent, when his suit against Forbes magazine was declared admissible by an English court and considered on the merits.
However, Stevenson emphasized that Fridman and his lawyers have the right to challenge the jurisdiction of the English court. “The defendant has two to three months to make a decision, and then if he submits a statement of his unwillingness to have legal proceedings in London, the court also has three months to consider it,” Stevenson said. When asked whether an amicable settlement was possible, Stevenson replied “The option of an agreement between the parties can't be ruled out. But this depends to a great extent on Mr. Fridman and his willingness to apologize to the plaintiff.”
&From the Broadcast of "K Baryeru" of October 28, 2004
Mikhail Fridman: At that time [1999], we told them [the partners of Vladimir Yakovlev, the former owner of Kommersant] that if they wanted to buy [buy up Kommersant's shares from Yakovlev] so that the newspaper would remain truly independent, we were prepared to grant them credit. This question was discussed. And what is more, Berezovsky himself called me about this. He was very displeased.
Andrey Vasilyev: Did he advise you?
M.F.: No. He threatened me as usual. He said…
A.V. What, you?
Ì.F.: He threatened even me. He threatened everyone. That's how he operates.
Ekaterina Zapodinskaia, Anna Volkova, Elena Kiseleva
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 01, 2005
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