Posts Tagged ‘Court’
Libel claim over Magnitsky death struck out
A British hedge fund manager saw a long-running libel action brought by a former Russian Interior Ministry investigator struck out by a High Court judge on Monday.
Hedge fund chief Bill Browder, had been accused by Pavel Karpov, 36, of ruining his reputation by alleging the Russian was behind a massive fraud on the Russian taxpayer.
Mr Browder was also being sued for allegedly linking Mr Karpov to the brutal death of anti-corruption activist Sergei Magnitsky.
But striking out the action, Mr Justice Simon said: “The claimaint cannot establish a reputation within this jurisdiction sufficient to establish a real and substantial tort… his connection with this country is exiguous.”
Russia was “the natural forum” for the litigation, the judgment read.
“Taking all these matters into account…I have concluded that these proceedings should be struck out as abuse of the process and/or under inherent jurisdiction.”
Mr Browder, 49, the chief executive of Hermitage Capital Management, appeared relieved as the decision was announced today.
Mr Karpov had earlier admitted he did not possess adequate funds to pursue the case, leading Browder’s lawyers to suggest the court “cannot be satisfied that the Russian state is not behind the claims in some way”.
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Sergei Magnitsky libel claim struck out in landmark ruling
Blow to ‘libel tourism’ as high court rules Russian ex-policeman does not have prior reputation to defend in England and Wales.
The high court has thrown out a libel action taken by retired Moscow policeman against a British-based businessman in connection with his campaign for justice for whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky who was murdered in prison four years ago.
The decision to strike out Pavel Karpov’s case out is being seen as a landmark blow against “libel tourism” after the judge ruled that the case could not proceed on the grounds that the Russian did not have a prior reputation in England and Wales to defend.
“His connection with this country is exiguous and therefore there is a degree of artificiality about his seeking to protect his reputation in this country,” Mr Justice Simon ruled.
Karpov was suing Bill Browder and his UK-based fund Hermitage Capital for saying he was complicit in the “torture and murder” of anti-corruption whistleblower Magnitsky on a website and in interviews on video. hairy girl займ срочно без отказов и проверок https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php https://zp-pdl.com/emergency-payday-loans.php hairy woman
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UK court throws out Russian Magnitsky libel case
London’s High Court on Monday threw out a libel suit brought against British investment fund manager Bill Browder by a Russian former police officer who denies allegations that he played a part in the death of the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
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, was 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 in 2009.
In Monday’s High Court judgement, Mr Justice Simon said: “I have concluded that these proceedings should be struck out as abuse of the (court) process …”
The judge also found that there was “a degree of artificiality” about Karpov trying to protect his reputation in Britain.
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UK judge throws out libel case against Bill Browder
A High Court judge has thrown out a libel lawsuit brought by a Russian former policeman against Bill Browder, the UK-based fund manager behind the US Magnitsky Act.
Mr Browder had 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 a $230m fraud and the death in custody of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer Mr Browder had employed to investigate it.
The defamation case had been brought in London by ex-policeman Pavel Karpov, who was attempting to sue 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 year in a posthumous trial in Russia that drew widespread criticism in the west.
Mr Browder’s lawyers had applied to the High Court to have Mr Karpov’s lawsuit struck out before trial.
On Monday Mr Justice Simon did just that, ruling Mr Karpov “cannot establish a reputation within this jurisdiction” to bring the lawsuit.
The judge said Mr Karpov’s connection with Britain is “exiguous” and Russia rather was “the natural forum” to bring the lawsuit as the “connection with [the UK] is limited”.
Mr Browder’s campaign had accused Mr Karpov of being involved both in the fraud and of being among police who arranged for Magnitsky’s arrest and alleged torture in jail. Mr Karpov’s libel writ said those claims were false.
The judge’s decision is significant because it underscores the growing challenge to people with only a weak link to London bringing libel claims there.
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Britain’s High Court throws out libel suit related to dead Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky
Britain’s High Court on Monday threw out a libel case brought by a former Russian police officer against a London-based financier who is a fierce critic of corruption in Russia.
Retired policeman Pavel Karpov sued Hermitage Capital Management and its chief executive, William Browder, who has accused Karpov of being part of a network of corrupt officials complicit in the death of a Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky.
Judge Peregrine Simon dismissed the suit, ruling that Karpov had only minor links to Britain and “there is a degree of artificiality about his seeking to protect his reputation in this country.”
Browder called the judgment a victory against so-called libel tourism — the practice of litigants taking cases to court in Britain, even when there is no strong link to the country, because the British legal system is perceived as friendly to their claims.
“I think this is a precedent-setting case,” Browder said “If you are a dubious foreign chancer, this precedent makes it much less likely you will succeed in the libel courts.”
The case is part of the labyrinthine saga surrounding the death of Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer hired by Hermitage Capital, who accused Russian police officials of stealing $230 million in tax rebates after illegally seizing Hermitage subsidiaries.
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Russia adjourns dead lawyer trial to March 22
A Moscow court on Monday put dead Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky on trial for tax evasion in defiance of his family’s complaints it was “desecrating” his memory, but swiftly adjourned the process to March 22. Duration: 00:33
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Moscow Court Rules That Probe Of Dead Lawyer Magnitsky Is Legal
Moscow City Court has ruled that investigations of deceased attorney Sergei Magnitsky are proper and legal and can continue.
The court on February 27 rejected an appeal by Magnitsky’s relatives to halt government investigations of the deceased attorney for the British-based Hermitage Capital Management.
Magnitsky, 37, was jailed after accusing Interior Ministry officials of involvement in a massive corruption scandal.
He later died in pre-trial detention in 2009 after suffering abuse and medical neglect.
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Moscow Court Rejects Hermitage Lawsuit
The Moscow Times
A Moscow court on Tuesday rejected a request by Hermitage Capital to regain control over three subsidiaries that the fund’s lawyer Sergei Magnitsky suspected had been used by the police to steal government money.
The city’s 10th Arbitration Court of Appeal turned down the lawsuit filed by the fund’s Cyprus-based subsidiaries, Glendora Holdings Limited and Kone Holdings Limited, defense lawyer Oleg Kirilenko told The Moscow Times.
The lawsuit asked the court to confirm the fund’s ownership of the three subsidiaries, which fund managers claim were illegally seized by Moscow police in June 2007.
Hermitage Capital promised to appeal. “This is the sixth attempt by the perpetrators to destroy evidence through the courts over the last two years,” a fund representative said by e-mail. “We intend to appeal in Russia and ultimately take this case to the ECHR [European Court of Human Rights] if necessary.”
Magnitsky, who died in pretrial detention last November, had accused the police of confiscating documents from the three subsidiaries — Riland Ltd. and Parfenion Ltd., 100 percent owned by Glendora Holdings Limited, and Makhaon Ltd., 100 percent owned by Kone Holdings Limited — and handing them over to Pluton Ltd., which was registered as the new owner of the companies in July 2007, according to the Russian Agency for Legal and Judicial Information, a mouthpiece for Russia’s top courts.
Magnitsky said Pluton’s former head Viktor Markelov and a group of police officials used the three subsidiaries to defraud the government of 5.4 billion rubles ($230 million at the 2007 rate) by claiming the return of taxes that had never been paid, the Russian Agency for Legal and Judicial Information said.
Pluton subsequently sold the subsidiaries to Boily Systems Limited and shut down, the agency said.
Moscow’s 10th Arbitration Court of Appeal earlier overturned a ruling by the Moscow region Arbitration Court that declared the July 2007 deals as illegal, the agency said.
Markelov was jailed for five years in April 2009 on charges of stealing 5.4 billion rubles from the government, it said.
Police officials opened a tax evasion investigation into Hermitage Capital lawyer Magnitsky and William Browder, the fund’s head, after they linked the officials and Major General Anatoly Mikhalkin, head of the Moscow police’s tax crimes department, to the 5.4 billion rubles.
Magnitsky, 37, died in a Moscow detention center after officials repeatedly denied him medical treatment for illnesses that he developed while waiting nearly a year for his politically tainted trial to begin.
President Dmitry Medvedev in December fired Mikhalkin and 20 prison officials and ordered a thorough investigation. But nearly a year later, no arrests have been made in connection with the death. займ на карту hairy girls https://zp-pdl.com/fast-and-easy-payday-loans-online.php https://www.zp-pdl.com займы на карту без отказа
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