Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Putin; Scourge of the Oligarch

Grabby Vladdy is at it again. After allegedly being "hounded out of business" and forced to sell his $6 billion oil firm Russnet to a Putin Pal, Mikhail S. Gutseriev went public with a letter published on his company website and in a Russian business newspaper. Yesterday the other shoe dropped as an arrest warrant for "tax evasion and fraud" was issued against Gutseriev.

Can you say Yukos Redux?

From a different, restricted Times Select article comes the following money quote:

''As everybody in the world knows, you don't fight city hall, and in Russia you don't fight the Kremlin,'' Chris Weafer, the chief analyst at Alfa Bank, said in a telephone interview. ''When the Kremlin comes calling and says 'we want to buy your business,' the only talk is about price and terms.''

What do you say guys, Can we get Putin to replace Alberto Gonzalez? CEOs beware!