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.
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by John Helmer - Saturday, September 8th, 2012
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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.
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by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 5th, 2012
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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.”
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by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 5th, 2012
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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.
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, September 4th, 2012
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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.
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by John Helmer - Sunday, September 2nd, 2012
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by John Helmer - Sunday, September 2nd, 2012
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by John Helmer - Sunday, August 26th, 2012
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 31st, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Victor Vekselberg won a major UK High Court action on Friday, and the presiding judge, Justice Guy Newey, has ordered that he should get his money’s worth returned. No ruling of fraud was allowed. The amount may turn out to be less than Vekselberg has spent on lawyers and experts over the 25 months the case has been pending.

This isn’t the case currently under way in the London Court of International Arbitration where Vekselberg is suing Oleg Deripaska for violation of the shareholder agreements on the basis of which the two of them have been directing United Company Rusal since its formation in 2006 and merger with Vekselberg’s Siberian Ural Aluminium (SUAL) in 2007. That case was first reported here. The proceedings are being conducted behind closed doors.
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by John Helmer - Sunday, July 29th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow

There is a unique protection in the Ontario Business Corporations Act which may have Alexei Mordashov’s name written all over it. It’s called the oppression remedy.

What this does is to allow minority shareholders to go to court to challenge the votes and decisions of majority or control shareholders in a Canadian company, when the latter act in a way that is prejudicial, disadvantageous, or unfair to the former. The evidence and standard of unfairness can be decided by a court-ordered investigation of the company’s affairs and of the “reasonable expectations” of the shareholders. Such an investigation is the first thing a Canadian judge can do, before ruling on unfairness. What’s more, an applicant shareholder needs to convince the investigators, not of evidence of fraud or dishonesty, but of the “appearance” that the board of directors, control shareholders, or company management “unfairly disregard” the interests of the minority.
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by John Helmer - Sunday, July 29th, 2012
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