Posts Tagged ‘antony white’
Libel suit over Magnitsky allegations challenged in London court
British investment fund manager Bill Browder has asked a London court to throw out a libel suit brought against him by a Russian former police officer who denies allegations that he played a part in the death of the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, court documents show.
Pavel Karpov, a former Russian Interior Ministry investigator who is on the “Magnitsky list” of people barred from the United States over the lawyer’s death, is suing Browder over four videos and two articles linking Karpov to the case.
Magnitsky, who was acting for Browder and his Hermitage Capital Management at the time, was arrested after accusing Russian officials of a $230-million fraud, and died in prison in suspicious circumstances.
He was posthumously found guilty of tax evasion by a Moscow court on July 11 this year and Browder was convicted in absentia and sentenced to nine years in jail in the same trial, which was criticised by both the United States and the European Union.
Browder’s campaign to vindicate Magnitsky helped to bring about the U.S. Magnitsky Act, which bars Russians suspected of involvement in the lawyer’s death from the United States and freezes their assets there.
During a two-day hearing at the London High Court, which Browder attended, his lawyers argued that Karpov’s libel suit against him was an abuse of process.
“An avowed purpose of (Karpov) in pursuing the claims, to attack his inclusion on the United States government’s Magnitsky list, is not an appropriate use of the process of the court,” the lawyers wrote in a document presented to the judge.
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Browder asks court to throw out Magnitsky libel lawsuit
Bill Browder, the UK-based fund manager behind the US Magnitsky Act, is asking the High Court to throw out an extraordinary libel lawsuit brought against him by a Russian he accused of being involved in Russia’s biggest tax fraud.
Mr Browder has become a hate figure for the Russian leadership after lobbying Congress to adopt the Magnitsky law last year. The law imposed sanctions on Russians allegedly involved in the $230m fraud and the death in custody of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer Mr Browder employed to investigate it.
The defamation case has been brought by Russian-based Pavel Karpov, a former policeman who is suing over allegations on a campaigning website run by Mr Browder.
Magnitsky died in a Russian jail four years ago but he was convicted of tax evasion this month in a posthumous Russian trial that drew widespread criticism in the west.
Mr Browder’s campaign has accused Mr Karpov of being involved both in the fraud and of being among police who arranged for Magnitsky’s arrest and torture in jail. Mr Karpov’s libel writ says those claims are false.
The case is bound to reignite concerns around libel tourism and that London’s courts are being used by the rich and powerful who have tenuous links with the UK but want to exploit its claimant-friendly rules.
Mr Browder alleges the Russian government is ultimately behind the case and is using it to attempt to force him to take down videos on his website.
Antony White QC, Mr Browder’s barrister, claims in court papers that Mr Karpov “does not have the means to pay for this litigation himself” and is relying on an unidentified friend.
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Retired Russian police officer accused of complicity in tax fraud and murder of whistleblowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky ‘receiving Kremlin help’
A retired Russian police officer accused of complicity in a massive tax fraud and the murder of whistleblowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was claimed to be receiving Kremlin help in bringing a multi-million pound libel case in London.
Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Karpov, an unemployed former interior ministry investigator who lives in a luxury Moscow flat, is suing British businessman William Browder, a millionaire hedge fund investor who employed Mr Magnitsky and is leading a campaign against corruption in the Russian government, for substantial damages in the High Court.
A pre-trial hearing was told yesterday that the case is likely to cost a minimum of £6m and that Mr Karpov has admitted he cannot afford to fund the proceedings himself. He is refusing to name a businessman friend who he insists is guaranteeing bank loans to fund the case and he says has no connection with the Russian state.
Mr Browder is seeking to have the libel suit, which arises from a series of internet postings made on his behalf about the Magnitsky scandal, thrown out as an abuse of the legal system on grounds including the claim that Mr Karpov has no links with Britain. In turn, Mr Karpov is seeking to have elements of Mr Browder’s defence struck out, including any suggestion that he could have had a hand in or responsibility for Mr Magnitsky’s death.
The case is likely to raise fresh debate about the use of the English courts for so-called “libel tourism”. Mr Karpov has said he is justified in bringing his proceedings in part because the website used to post the material he claims is defamatory is based in the United Kingdom.
Antony White QC, for Mr Browder and his company, Hermitage Capital Management, told the court there was “evidence” that previous libel proceedings brought by Mr Karpov in Russia linked to the Magnitsky case had been instigated from within the Kremlin, adding there were grounds to suspect that a similar arrangement was in place in the London case.
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