By John Helmer, Moscow

There have been demonstrations this month in the Romanian town of Campa Turzii against plans by Russian steel maker Mechel to cut its local steelmill’s workforce by up to a thousand jobs, after rolling job cuts have already reduced the plant’s workforce over recent years. The Romanian government responded on Friday by promising a ministerial investigation into how Mechel acquired the plant in a privatization transaction in 2003, and whether it has met the government’s terms for investment and job security since then.

Liviu Pop, the Minister of Social Dialogue, announced after a meeting with steelworkers: “There are some questions about the privatization of Mechel Campia Turzii in 2003. There are signs that this contract was not respected. The Government is obliged to take the first step and we will have a discussion with ministers of Economy, Finance, Environment, and AVAS [state property agency] to see what is the situation of the privatization contract and its consequences. If irregularities are found, the state organs will be notified of the details. If it is unfair competition, abuse of office , misconduct in office, we will consider revocation of this contract”.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Monday, September 17th, 2012
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow

Private Eye, the only periodical of investigative journalism still made of paper and ink and for sale in the UK, is old enough to be a grandfather in his dodders. So when the editor, Ian Hislop (aged 52), and his anonymous reporters took sides with Pussy Riot last month, it may have been natural for them to find a figure they called a “British grandfather”, and here’s what he reportedly did:
(more…)

by John Helmer - Thursday, September 13th, 2012
No Comments »

By John Helmer,Moscow

Russian government investigators are focusing on a tiny, little known Latvian bank through which Oleg Deripaska (front) has been holding and moving billions of dollars. The Latvian Trade Bank (LTB), as it was known for many years, has recently been renamed Expobank, after it was taken over by Igor Kim, who bought the bank from Alexander Mamut (left).

The bank was a target of investigation by lawyers for Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky, as they prepared for their recent trial in the UK High Court. Its money-laundering business became public during the witness testimony at the trial last October and November. At one point, the bank’s management agreed to submit to the UK court’s jurisdiction and accept a court order to disclose its transaction records.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Thursday, September 13th, 2012
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow

In the history of the Spanish Main, it was always tricky to tell who had title to what, as the Spaniards stole gold and silver from the Aztecs and the Incas, and the British pirated the Spanish galleons as they made their way across the Caribbean. Who can blame the Danes for not trusting the Russians in what has been announced this week as the biggest delivery of treasure by a foreigner, the A.P. Moller-Maersk group, ever unloaded in Russia’s seagoing business.

Are the terms of the complicated shareholding arrangement a scheme for the Russians to take as much cash for themselves before their container business loses its growth prospects, and profit margins shrink under domestic competition from Vladimir Yakunin (Russian Railways), Ziyavudin Magomedov (Summa Capital), and Vladimir Lisin (Universal Cargo Logistics Holding, UCLH), not to mention Vladimir Putin, Igor Sechin, Arkady Dvorkovich, and Dmitry Medvedev? Is the postponement of shareholding control for the enterprise a hedge by the Danes against the possibility that it will prove impossible to take practical operating control of the assets they are now acquiring as a minority stakeholder?
(more…)

by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 12th, 2012
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow

The second day of Yury Privalov’s trial in Moscow for embezzling funds from Sovcomflot ended Monday evening without a ruling from Judge Natalia Morozova. The state shipping group, represented by lawyers from Sovcomflot, one of its offshore subsidiaries, and Novorossiysk Shipping Company (Novoship), have requested leniency and Privalov’s discharge. The state prosecution has asked for a sentence of six years in prison, less the two years Privalov has already served, and a fine of Rb1 million ($30,000). The judge reserved her decision, and promised to issue her judgement in a week’s time on September 17.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Tuesday, September 11th, 2012
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow

There is no literal Russian language version for stool pigeon, as the term is understood in English — someone who acts as a decoy to trap others into committing a crime, and then gives evidence against them for a payoff. The nearest Russian term is стукач. The meaning is the same – whatever the stoolie or стукачёк says is as likely to be fabricated as true.

On Friday, in the Dorogomilovsky regional court of Moscow, Judge Natalia Morozova heard lawyers for the Sovcomflot group, the state-owned tanker company, commend the pigeon, I mean the accused, Yury Privalov (image left), for his expertise and cooperation in recovering $150 million in money he had helped embezzle when Privalov was in charge of the London operations of Sovcomflot’s UK affiliated company, Fiona.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Saturday, September 8th, 2012
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow

In the wasted human life department, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom are currently the front-runners. With one down (Libya) and three and a half wars on the go – Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran – how can the scoring be in doubt?

So it’s always surprising when out of some active-measures file in a Cold War closet, someone depicts the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) as the more recklessly murderous. In Geoffrey Sambrook’s fresh novel, not only does an FSB agent kidnap an Austrian aluminium trader from a leading restaurant in Hamburg, but then shoots him in the head and dumps his body off the parapet of the Adolphusbrucke (image), wearing made-in-Russia handcuffs. That’s the thing about the old active-measures files, they always portray the Russian side as fatally careless. And that’s the problem with the novel, Czar Rising: Money and politics in the new Russia, by Geoffrey Sambrook.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 5th, 2012
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow

The shrinking violet of English literature, Jane Austen (image top right), said it best: “Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.”

Alexei Mordashov (image centre) likes to think of the Business System he has introduced at his steel company Severstal as a sign of genius. He even spells the management method with capital BS, which is also the way managers speak of it.

In Severstal’s annual report for last year, the same thing is headlined “Transformational Thinking” (TT). Far from being transformational, the language in the annual report describing the BS is conventional share-price touting: “Among industry players, our Business System is unrivaled in terms of the extent of its integration and EBITDA contribution potential. The system aims to optimise company-wide operations, unify goals, create a strong corporate culture and improve KPIs ranging from profit to efficiency to health and safety targets.”
(more…)

by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 5th, 2012
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow

A British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent in Moscow named Steven Rosenberg staged and filmed a rehearsal of what he claims Pussy Riot told him they were planning at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral at least a day, possibly several days before February 21. That is the day when three of the group members committed the acts for which they were convicted in a Moscow court on August 17, and sentenced to prison for two years.

The BBC’s role in encouraging these acts, coaching them in rehearsal in front of a camera, and then acting as an international megaphone for their songs and claims, was not called in evidence during the court proceedings, nor mentioned in the judgement. But the BBC is now refusing to answer questions about what they have done to promote Pussy Riot in media that have been circulating worldwide since February.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Tuesday, September 4th, 2012
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow

That Boris Berezovsky (image upper right) is a self-delusional liar is no news, particularly not in Moscow.

That Justice Dame Elizabeth Gloster (image lower right) should have made this point the crux of her August 31 judgement, dismissing Berezovsky’s claims against Roman Abramovich (lower left), should come as a surprise only to those who for a decade have promoted and protected Berezovsky’s claims to political power in Russia, business acumen, wealth, and superior intelligence; that is, a succession of British prime ministers starting with Tony Blair, and the Anglo-American media, led by the Guardian of London.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Sunday, September 2nd, 2012
No Comments »