AFK Sistema Shares Plunged By 30%

0
Down

Shares of Russian technology holding AFK Sistema plunged 30 per cent on Wednesday, after the arrest of its billionaire owner raised concerns that the government was planning a crackdown against oligarchs.

DownInvestigators said late Tuesday that Sistema chairman Vladimir Yevtushenkov had been placed under house arrest in connection to an investigation into alleged embezzlement and money laundering during the sale of the Bashneft oil company.

“There is enough evidence to suspect that Yevtusehnkov took part in laundering embezzled funds,” the Investigative Committee, a powerful law enforcement agency that deals with high-profile cases, said.

Yevtushenkov, who is among Russia’s richest men, said through his press office that the accusations were baseless and that he would file a complaint against the arrest order, Russian news agencies reported.

The case evoked memories of Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who spent 10 years in jail on similar charges before he was released in December.

Khodorkovsky’s said that Yevtusehenko’s arrest deals another blow to Russia’s business climate, which is already massively burdened by western sanctions imposed over Russia’s actions in Ukraine and global recession fears.

In an interview published by the Vedomosti newspaper Wednesday, Khodorkovsky suggested that state oil giant Rosneft was behind the charges. “Evtushenkov refused, he did not want to share his assets,” Khodorkovsky said.

Rosneft has been the main beneficiary of the state-ordered bankruptcy of Yukos, Khodorkovsky’s oil firm.

A Rosneft spokesman denied the charges. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said that any comparison of Yevtushenkov’s case with Khodorkovsky’s was “baseless and inappropriate.”
GNA

Send your news stories to [email protected] Follow News Ghana on Google News

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here