Russia found guilty of manipulating its legal system to seize an oil company and jail a political op - Polidicks

[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28520892[/url] [quote]A court in the Hague has awarded shareholders in the defunct Russian oil company Yukos the largest compensation package to date. The Court of Arbitration said Russia should pay $50bn in damages. It said Russian officials, under President Putin, had manipulated the legal system to bankrupt Yukos, and jail its boss, Mikhail Khodorkovsky for fraud and tax evasion. Russia's Foreign Minister said Russia will appeal the decision. Yukos was once the country's largest oil producer.[/quote] Holy fuck that's a lot of money (yeah it's USD). I haven't seen justice on this scale since Audio, Video, Disco came out I can't find the full judgement but FT has some quotes from it. This article is paywalled but you can get to it through Google News if you search for an extract. Here are a few of the quotes: [url]http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8b897256-1653-11e4-93ec-00144feabdc0.html[/url] [quote]"The primary objective of the Russian Federation was not to collect taxes but rather to bankrupt Yukos and appropriate its assets." "It was the desire of the state to acquire Yukos's most valuable asset and bankrupt Yukos. In short, it was in effect a devious and calculated expropriation" "It . . .support[s] claimants' central submission that the Russian authorities were conducting a 'ruthless campaign to destroy Yukos, appropriate its assets and eliminate Mr [Mikhail] Khodorkovsky as a political opponent."[/quote]

I kinda don't see them paying that in the midst of the ongoing sanctions and such.

Why would Russia feel obligated to actually pay such a sum?

Well he was prolly a oligarch

If they don't pay, the amount gains interest :v: [quote=The decision]ORDERS Respondent to pay to Claimant Hulley Enterprises Limited, if within 180 days of the issuance of this Award Respondent fails to pay in full the amounts set forth in paragraphs (f), (g) and (h) above, post-award interest on any outstanding amount starting from 15 January 2015, compounded annually. Post-award interest shall be determined as the yield on 10-year U.S. treasury bonds as of 15 January 2015 and then the dates of compounding yearly thereafter. [/quote] Also they agreed to take the case to the Court of Arbitration, probably regretting that now

Hahaha, like the Russians will pay it.

Unsurprising. If there's one entity that has a higher power than the government in Russia, it's the corporations.

[URL]http://www.pca-cpa.org/shownews.asp?nws_id=440&pag_id=1261&ac=view[/URL] Link to the PCA website about it. And this seems to have the judgments themselves. [URL]http://www.pca-cpa.org/showpage.asp?pag_id=1599[/URL] [QUOTE=itisjuly;45523944]Why would Russia feel obligated to actually pay such a sum?[/QUOTE] Because if they don't their trading security plummets down to hell. Not to mention arbitration is generally willing or contractual.

[QUOTE=Omali;45523972]Unsurprising. If there's one entity that has a higher power than the government in Russia, it's the corporations.[/QUOTE] What do you mean? The government just fucked over a corporation to capture it for itself.

Apparently this is how getting Russia to pay will work: [url]http://online.wsj.com/articles/russia-must-compensate-former-yukos-shareholders-court-rules-1406536768?mod=asia_home[/url] [quote]The plaintiffs are now faced with the task of filing claims in any jurisdiction where they think they can reclaim Russian or Russian-related assets.[/quote] [quote]They are now faced with the perhaps more difficult task of how to collect, as plaintiffs in similar cases in the past have had mixed results attempting to seize Russian assets overseas. "It may be another long battle," admitted Emmanuel Gaillard, the lawyer who represented GML Ltd., the Gibraltar-registered vehicle formerly known as Menatep, through which Yukos former owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his colleagues held their controlling stake.[/quote] Also apparently there's another case relating to Yukos at the European Court of Human Rights, in which a ruling is expected very soon

[QUOTE=smurfy;45523952]If they don't pay, the amount gains interest :v: Also they agreed to take the case to the Court of Arbitration, probably regretting that now[/QUOTE] So basically a country that won't pay a ridiculous amount of money will not even pay a more ridiculous amount. k

[QUOTE=JohnFisher89;45524107]So basically a country that won't pay a ridiculous amount of money will not even pay a more ridiculous amount. k[/QUOTE] Nobody will invest there anymore if you can't even be sure you'll keep control over your own damn investment. Russia will lose more if they don't pay

[QUOTE=JohnFisher89;45524107]So basically a country that won't pay a ridiculous amount of money will not even pay a more ridiculous amount. k[/QUOTE] yes the country which stole a ridiculously successful company, threw its owner in jail and took all the company's property and money and incorporated the stolen oilwells and shit into the states own oil company Rosneft this conclusion is pretty fair

Holy shit, an actual government mending the law to legally be able to essentially steal money from a concern. That's fucking Orwellian. That's just really fucking low for a country in the 21st century.

[QUOTE=itisjuly;45523944]Why would Russia feel obligated to actually pay such a sum?[/QUOTE] Do you know how a judicial system works and WHY it works?

Their economy already went pretty much down over the last sanctions [quote]Let me not go through the whole set of countries, but just through the largest downward revision relative to the April WEO forecast, is Russia, where we have revised growth for 2014, from 1.3 percent, 2.2 percent, 0.2 percent and for 2015 from 2.3 percent to 1 percent. Some of these revisions actually have been announced earlier, after the April WEO, but before today, but those are revisions relative to the April WEO. What does this reflect? For the moment it reflects a deterioration of business confidence. There is nearly a freeze in investment decisions by domestic investors. There is near freeze in terms of FDI. There are large capital outflows. All this I think is easily explained by the geopolitical uncertainty which affects Russia at this point.[/quote] [url]http://www.imf.org/external/np/tr/2014/tr072414a.htm[/url] [editline]28th July 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Awesomecaek;45523938]I kinda don't see them paying that in the midst of the ongoing sanctions and such.[/QUOTE] [quote]Lawyers said that if Russia does not voluntarily accept the ruling, it can be forcibly enforced by shareholders seizing assets abroad.[/quote]

all I can think of when hearing "The Court of Arbitration" is the committee from Mass Effect also that justice pun

[img]http://imgkk.com/i/gqip.jpg[/img] This post has been seized by the FBI pursuant to a seizure warrant issued by a United States District Court. Hahaha jk I just got ninja'd pretty much

[QUOTE=itisjuly;45523944]Why would Russia feel obligated to actually pay such a sum?[/QUOTE]Their assets overseas will be seized, their economy will take a hit as companies feel less safe about doing business in Russia, and the amount they have to pay will increase.

The ruling's had a minor effect already: [img]http://imgkk.com/i/97og.png[/img]

[QUOTE=Sgt Doom;45524502]Their assets overseas will be seized, their economy will take a hit as companies feel less safe about doing business in Russia, and the amount they have to pay will increase.[/QUOTE] Let's just hope that's the worst of it, and that Russia doesn't move the doomsday clock closer to Midnight by forming a Red Star Alliance with China in retaliation.

we've written a strongly worded bill for putin to pay! (he won't pay it, they'll appeal it till hell freezes over, thaws, has global warming, then becomes hell again)

Times like this when a Staff of Command would be very useful in the matter of enforcing this judgment.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfZBp3r8gdw[/media] Russia is full of corruption. If you have time, watch the story about a man who invested in Russia and made a lot of money. A group of incredibly powerful russians then stole entire companies from him by stealing the documents and using corruption and then they arrested one of his russian lawyers who later on and died in jail. Full story here: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84MsRuC-1l8[/media] You can read more about the scandal on the page of the now deceased lawyer on this wiki page [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Magnitsky[/url]

[QUOTE=proch;45524267]Holy shit, an actual government mending the law to legally be able to essentially steal money from a concern. That's fucking Orwellian. That's just really fucking low for a country in the 21st century.[/QUOTE] i mean it IS russia, the government has stolen the country from the people, and insulated themselves from their own legal system, and stolen land and resources from its neighbors without provocation

Lol that's only 20 billions lower then our millitary budget. I bet our government won't pay this.

$50bn or some polonium, hope he'll get the dough instead of going bald and dying.