俄羅斯富豪葉夫圖申科夫被軟禁

Russian authorities have placed Vladimir Yevtushenkov, one of the country’s richest men, under house arrest on charges of money laundering.

俄羅斯政府指控該國最富有的人之一弗拉基米爾•葉夫圖申科夫(Vladimir Yevtushenkov)洗錢，已對他實行軟禁。

Mr Yevtushenkov is the chairman and largest holder of AFK Sistema, one of Russia’s biggest private corporations.

葉夫圖申科夫是俄羅斯最大的私企之一AFK Sistema的董事長和最大股東。

Sistema’s subsidiaries include MTS, one of the largest mobile operators in Russia, oil company Bashneft and Russian children’s store Detsky Mir.

Sistema旗下子公司包括俄羅斯最大的移動通信運營商之一MTS、石油公司Bashneft以及俄羅斯兒童用品商店Detsky Mir。

Forbes ranks Mr Yevtushenkov as the 15th richest man in Russia with a net worth of $6.8bn. Lord Mandelson, the prominent former British government minister, sits on Sistema’s board.

在《福布斯》(Forbes)的俄羅斯富豪榜上，葉夫圖申科夫位列第15位，其淨資產爲68億美元。知名的英國前內閣大臣曼德爾森勳爵(Lord Mandelson)是Sistema董事會成員。

Vladimir Markov, a spokesman for Russia’s investigative committee, the country’s equivalent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, yesterday said a Russian court had decided to place Mr Yevtushenkov under house arrest. This came after, he said, investigators claimed there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Sistema had employed “criminal means” in its acquisition of Bashneft in which Mr Yevtushenkov had been complicit.

俄羅斯調查委員會（相當於美國的聯邦調查局）發言人弗拉基米爾•馬爾科夫(Vladimir Markov)昨日表示，俄羅斯一法院已決定對葉夫圖申科夫實行軟禁。他表示，此舉緣於調查人員稱，有“合理依據”相信Sistema在收購Bashneft時採用了“犯罪手段”，而葉夫圖申科夫在這件事上難辭其咎。

Sistema said in a statement it considered the allegations against him “wholly unfounded” and said it would use “all our opportunities to appeal against it”.

Sistema在一份聲明中表示，其認爲針對葉夫圖申科夫的指控“毫無根據”，並表示將利用“我們的一切機會對此提出上訴”。

In Russia, criminal investigations are often used as a way to settle political scores.

在俄羅斯，刑事調查往往被用來進行政治上的報復。

Troubles for Sistema began this summer when authorities in the Bashkortostan Republic, a central Russian region, which is also Bashneft’s former owner, alleged that Sistema had underpaid for the company when it was acquired from the local government in 2009, suing Sistema for $5.8bn in damages. The lawsuit came ahead of an initial public offering that Bashneft was planning in London.

Sistema的麻煩開始於今年夏季，當時位於俄羅斯中部的巴什科爾託斯坦共和國(Bashkortostan Republic)當局指控稱，Sistema在2009年以偏低價格向當地政府收購了Bashneft，並以此爲由，請求法庭命令Sistema支付58億美元的損害賠償金。在此次訴訟之前，Bashneft正計劃在倫敦上市。

Mr Yevtushenkov’s arrest will deal another blow to Russia’s investment climate, which has rapidly deteriorated this year on the back of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Moscow’s involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

葉夫圖申科夫被捕將讓俄羅斯投資環境再受衝擊。在俄羅斯吞併克里米亞和莫斯科捲入烏克蘭東部衝突的背景下，今年俄羅斯的投資環境迅速惡化。

One of Russia’s richest men, Mr Yevtushenkov came to prominence in Moscow in the early 1990s, when he was seen as close to Yuri Luzhkov, the then powerful mayor of Moscow.

葉夫圖申科夫是俄羅斯的首富之一，他於上世紀90年代初在莫斯科聲名鵲起，被認爲與強勢的時任莫斯科市長尤里•盧日科夫(Yuri Luzhkov)關係密切。

He acquired many of his assets during the chaotic privatisations of the Yeltsin era when many state-owned properties were sold off for a song to politically-connected businessmen.

他的許多資產都是在葉利欽時代混亂的私有化期間獲得的，當時許多國有資產被以極低價格拋售給與政界關係密切的商人。

MTS shares fell close to 2 per cent in New York on the news of the arrest.

葉夫圖申科夫被捕消息傳出後，在紐約上市的MTS股價下跌近2%。