The warrant Tuesday for Mikhail Gutseriev comes a month after he published a letter critical of the Russian government on a company Web site and in a Russian business newspaper.
Public criticism from a wealthy individual is rare in Russia, and the fallout echoed what happened to another oil tycoon, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was arrested in 2003 and remains in prison.
Gutseriev is thought to have fled the country, said Irina Dudukina, a spokeswoman for the Russian Interior Ministry. It was unclear where he went.
One of the richest Russians just a month ago, Gutseriev is now a fugitive, and his 100 percent ownership stake in Russneft, a company valued at roughly $6 billion, has been frozen by a Moscow court order. His downfall sheds light on the capriciousness of the Russian court system and the imperative for businessmen to show loyalty to the government of President Vladimir Putin.
Just last week, Gutseriev's 21-year-old son, Chingizkhan, died from a brain hemorrhage after crashing a Ferrari in an accident that was not registered by the traffic police in Russia, a departure from the usual practice in fatal accidents, Reuters reported.
"People are fighting over assets with no limits or rules," said Yulia Latynina, a political commentator on the Echo of Moscow radio station. "People are fighting not within the law or within reason, but just out of greed."
Gutseriev was charged this year with tax evasion and illegal business activity and ordered to remain within the city limits of Moscow. The arrest warrant issued Tuesday came after the police suspected that he had left the city, Dudukina said. In his letter, Gutseriev contended that the police and the tax authorities were colluding with his business opponents to force a sale of his company. Gutseriev agreed July 30 to sell to another wealthy Russian, Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of Putin, but made clear that the deal was not voluntary; he said that he had been "hounded" out of his business.
His fall has parallels with the higher profile collapse of the business empire of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in 2003, after Khodorkovsky's arrest on fraud and tax evasion charges, with the distinction that this latest case seems to have less of a political element.
Khodorkovsky's supporters say his business, Yukos oil company, was targeted after he financed opposition parties in parliamentary elections. Gutseriev, in contrast, had kept a low politicial profile before this summer.
Via: International Herald Tribune
Tags:
