Minister emerges as player in MegaFon dispute
An Arbitration Tribunal in Zurich has ruled that Russian Information Technology and Communications Minister Leonid Reiman laundered money in an attempt to buy a 25 per cent stake in third placed Russian cellco MegaFon.
According to a report on Dow Jones newswire, Reiman was the only beneficiary of a 25 per cent stake option in MegaFon held by Bermuda-based company IPOC International Growth Fund.
The dispute began in 2003, when Russian conglomerate Alfa Group, now known as Altimo, bought an investment company called LV Finance along with a 25 per cent holding in MegaFon.
But because Alfa is also a majority shareholder in Russia’s second placed cellco, VimpelCom, IPOC, which owns 5 per cent of MegaFon, claimed Alfa’s move violated an option agreement it had with LV as well as MegaFon’s shareholder agreement.
IPOC then claimed it had already made payments towards the option of acquiring the 25 per cent stake in MegaFon, around the same times as Alfa’s acquisition of LV.
A drawn out tussle in the courtroom has finally revealed that Reiman, and not Danish lawyer Jeffrey Galmond, as previously disclosed, is the main owner in IPOC’s businesses.
According to the report, LV alleges that the ruling shows that Reiman was in breach of his official responsibilities and claims the Tribunal found that the money used by IPOC to make the payments on the option had been criminally sourced.
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Tags: MegaFon, Regional, Russia, VimpelCom