Posts Tagged ‘olswang’
Magnitsky libel case ‘may be backed by the Kremlin’
The Kremlin has been accused of abusing the British justice system to wage a politically motivated campaign against UK hedge fund boss Bill Browder after libel proceedings were launched against the millionaire in the High Court.
Pavel Karpov, an unemployed former Russian police officer, is suing Mr Browder and his UK-based fund Hermitage Capital for saying he was complicit in the “torture and murder” of anti-corruption whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky four years ago.
Mr Karpov strongly denies the allegations, along with suggestions he was involved in fraud and kidnapping, and is seeking to clear his name.
However, in a pre-trial hearing, Antony White QC for Mr Browder demanded the case be thrown out for “abuse of process” as Mr Karpov had “no connection with England and no reputation to protect here”. He added that the case was politically motivated and possibly funded by the Kremlin.
Mr White drew attention to Mr Karpov’s admission that he does not have the means to pay for litigation, which could come to £6m, as well as the “highly political dimension” of the case. Mr Magnitsky has become an anti-corruption martyr in Russia, and Mr Browder’s relentless campaigning a diplomatic headache for President Vladimir Putin.
According to Mr Karpov’s witness statement, the cost of his libel claim is being covered by a loan from Transnational Bank in Russia and backed by a wealthy entrepreneur friend who has agreed “to stand as a personal guarantor”.
Mr White told the court that if the case went to trial, the costs would be “£3m to £4m on our side alone”. Under UK libel law, Mr Karpov can seek up to a maximum of £240,000 in damages. Even if he wins, lawyers said, his damages would be unlikely to cover his costs.
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Libel tourism fiasco of Russian ‘torturer’ using our courts to bring claim against British businessman
A former Russian police officer banned from travelling to America after being accused of torture and murder has been allowed to bring an explosive libel claim against a British businessman in London’s High Court.
The case, which will cost the UK taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds, is likely to be one of the most expensive ever heard in Britain.
It is being brought by Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Karpov, one of the men accused of involvement in the arrest, torture and murder of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who died in Moscow in 2009.
And it follows a high-profile campaign led by Mr Magnitsky’s former boss, William Browder, who wants more than 60 Russian suspects held to account for the lawyer’s death.
But Mr Karpov has hired top UK lawyers to sue Mr Browder for defamation in a trial that opens on July 24. The case is cited as one of the worst examples of libel tourism – where foreign nationals with little or no connection to the UK use the High Court to settle their disputes.
Last night senior Labour MP Chris Bryant said: ‘It is absolutely ludicrous a man I hope will never set foot in this country except to face criminal proceedings himself is able to abuse British libel law in this way.’
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Exclusive: Briton who took on Sergei Magnitsky network faces libel case in UK
A former Moscow police officer is suing a British businessman who exposed how a network of corrupt officials and shadowy criminal underworld figures were behind the largest tax fraud in Russian history.
Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Karpov has launched libel and defamation proceedings in the High Court against William Browder, a millionaire hedge-fund magnate who has campaigned against corruption within the Russian government after his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was tortured and died in police custody.
The 35-year-old officer, who was until recently a Moscow and Interior Ministry investigator, is one of more than 60 Russian officials who Mr Browder has publicly accused of being behind a scam that led to the theft of $230million from the Russian tax payer. Mr Browder has also accused him of being among a group of police officers who arranged for the arrest and torture of Mr Magnitsky when he uncovered the scam and went public with his allegations.
If the case ends up in the High Court, it will shed a spotlight on a scandal that has become a source of major international embarrassment to the Kremlin because of the mounting evidence that prominent officials within the Interior Ministry, tax offices and the judiciary aided the scam.
Mr Karpov insists he had nothing to do with the fraud or the subsequent cover up – or the arrest, torture and death of Mr M. In court documents obtained by The Independent Lawyers from Olswang, the major London law-firm which represents the former detective, say the allegations made by Mr Browder have caused “serious hurt, embarrassment and distress.”
They insist that while Mr Browder’s quest to pursue those who killed Mr Magnitsky might be legitimate, his campaign has wrongfully made false and highly defamatory claims against their client including that he is complicit in fraud, torture, kidnapping and murder.
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