Limassol District Court postponed the hearing on Monday to consider the serving of an indictment on Russian lawyer Evgeniy Mariashin (a shareholder and legal adviser to fertiliser giant PhosAgro and billionaire shareholder Andrei Guryev, left) after he didn’t show up. His Cypriot lawyers requested a further week, to October 19, for him to make an appearance.
“If he does not appear next Monday, there is every likelihood that the judge will have to impose punitive action,” said a spokesman for ousted former chairman Alexander Gorbachev.
Such high-profile cases are often battled in Cyprus courts where major Russian investors have established trusts or trading companies to conduct international business and secure funding for growth or takeovers.
Last week, the Attorney-General’s office refused a request to quash criminal proceedings against Guryev and 13 others accused in the Cypriot courts, enabling the case to continue to trial.
The 14 accused are charged with using fraudulent means to deprive businessman Gorbachev, a former Chairman of PhosAgro, of a 24% stake in the business worth around $1.2 bln at current market prices, according to a statement.
Gorbachev has brought the criminal action on a private basis, under Cypriot law, because several offshore companies holding PhosAgro shares, which were used to perpetrate the alleged fraud, are based here.
PhosAgro, one of the world’s leading fertiliser producers, is listed on the Moscow and London stock exchanges, with a current market capitalisation of $5 bln. Guryev is the CEO and 71% shareholder of PhosAgro and owner of Witanhurst House, London’s second-largest residence after Buckingham Palace.
Although PhosAgro and Guryev were not among the defendants whose bid to have the case dismissed was rejected last week, the Attorney-General’s decision is seen as a dramatic setback for both Guryev and the company.
The application to have the case dropped was made by lawyers acting for Areti Charidemou and eight Cypriot companies, who are among the accused and who have already been served the indictment.
At a court hearing earlier last week, these nine parties pleaded not guilty to the charges and were ordered to appear before the court on December 16. Charidemou acts as the administrator and trustee of the Cypriot companies whose management is carried out through the Limassol-based law firm Areti Charidemou & Associates LLC.
In the absence of being able to serve the summons directly on Mariashin, a naturalised Cypriot citizen, the indictment has been served indirectly to a member of his family at his residence on the outskirts of Limassol.
The application to the Attorney-General to dismiss the case was brought on behalf of Charimedou and the other eight applicants by Achilles Aimilianides, a Nicosia-based advocate and professor in Law, and London-based barrister James Lewis. Alexander Gorbachev is represented by Loukis Loukaides, a former Judge at the European Court of Human Rights, and by Limassol-based Advocate Panikos Onoufriou.
London-based Gorbachev – who co-founded PhosAgro with Guryev and chaired the company until 2004 – said: “Despite attempts to dismiss my complaint, the highest legal officer of the Republic of Cyprus has reviewed the proceedings and directed that Andrei Guryev, and the others, have a case to answer and should face a trial there.
“I was instrumental in building PhosAgro. I oversaw the formation, development and eventually the global success of the group. We had an agreement he would hold my shareholding in trust for me which he breached.”
According to reports, PhosAgro’s original owner was Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s Menatep Group, but the firesale of assets to the current owners happened after court litigation against Yukos.
