File Photo: The Moscow Kremlin (Thinkstock Photo)
Paris:
Sergei Pugachev, a tycoon once dubbed "Putin's banker" because of his influence in the Kremlin, has filed a $12 billion claim against Russia after his business empire was carved up when he fell out of favour with President Vladimir Putin.
"Over the past few years, Russia has pursued a multi-pronged attack against me, my family, and my investments," Pugachev said in a written statement on Tuesday. "I refuse to be intimidated by Russia's tactics."
Pugachev's notice of arbitration was delivered to Putin and Russia's ministers of economy, finance, justice and foreign affairs, his lawyers said at a briefing in Paris.
Reuters reported on Monday that lawyers for Pugachev had issued notice of a claim of more than $10 billion against Russia that is likely to be heard in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
It was not immediately possible to get a response from the Russian government, which is seeking Pugachev's arrest for embezzlement and misappropriation of assets, charges he denies.
Moscow is already fighting a separate ruling by the same court in 2014, which ordered it to pay $50 billion for expropriating the assets of Yukos, once Russia's biggest oil producer and run by Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Since leaving Russia in 2011, Pugachev, 52, has accused Putin's allies of bringing his multi-billion dollar business empire to its knees before picking off some of its best assets.
Pugachev founded Mezhprombank, or International Industrial Bank, in 1992, just a year after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It grew to become one of Russia's biggest banks.
Pugachev's business empire had stakes in the 'Northern' and 'Baltic' shipyards, the latter of which built the Tsar's battleships and Soviet nuclear-powered icebreakers, and a giant Siberian coal deposit.
Edward Kehoe, a lawyer at King & Spalding who is representing Pugachev, said the claim against Russia alleged violations of a Russian-French bilateral investment treaty and international law.
Pugachev, who became a French citizen in 2009, said the Kremlin stripped him of his assets without paying compensation.
After helping Putin ascend to Russia's top job in 1999 during the last days of Boris Yeltsin's presidency, Pugachev fell out with some of Putin's most powerful allies in the years after the 2008 financial crisis.
Russian authorities say Pugachev, who once represented Siberia's Tuva Republic in the upper house of parliament, helped himself to over $700 million in Russian central bank bailout money intended to help Mezhprombank through the crisis.
Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Pugachev at Russia's request.
"Over the past few years, Russia has pursued a multi-pronged attack against me, my family, and my investments," Pugachev said in a written statement on Tuesday. "I refuse to be intimidated by Russia's tactics."
Pugachev's notice of arbitration was delivered to Putin and Russia's ministers of economy, finance, justice and foreign affairs, his lawyers said at a briefing in Paris.
Reuters reported on Monday that lawyers for Pugachev had issued notice of a claim of more than $10 billion against Russia that is likely to be heard in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
It was not immediately possible to get a response from the Russian government, which is seeking Pugachev's arrest for embezzlement and misappropriation of assets, charges he denies.
Moscow is already fighting a separate ruling by the same court in 2014, which ordered it to pay $50 billion for expropriating the assets of Yukos, once Russia's biggest oil producer and run by Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Since leaving Russia in 2011, Pugachev, 52, has accused Putin's allies of bringing his multi-billion dollar business empire to its knees before picking off some of its best assets.
Pugachev founded Mezhprombank, or International Industrial Bank, in 1992, just a year after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It grew to become one of Russia's biggest banks.
Pugachev's business empire had stakes in the 'Northern' and 'Baltic' shipyards, the latter of which built the Tsar's battleships and Soviet nuclear-powered icebreakers, and a giant Siberian coal deposit.
Edward Kehoe, a lawyer at King & Spalding who is representing Pugachev, said the claim against Russia alleged violations of a Russian-French bilateral investment treaty and international law.
Pugachev, who became a French citizen in 2009, said the Kremlin stripped him of his assets without paying compensation.
After helping Putin ascend to Russia's top job in 1999 during the last days of Boris Yeltsin's presidency, Pugachev fell out with some of Putin's most powerful allies in the years after the 2008 financial crisis.
Russian authorities say Pugachev, who once represented Siberia's Tuva Republic in the upper house of parliament, helped himself to over $700 million in Russian central bank bailout money intended to help Mezhprombank through the crisis.
Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Pugachev at Russia's request.
© Thomson Reuters 2015
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
