By John Helmer in Moscow The test of a rising empire is how far from home it will go to take wealth from the natives. The test of a declining empire is how much more it will spend on keeping the natives down than being there is worth. By this standard, Russian Aluminium (Rusal) in […]

by John Helmer - Friday, October 2nd, 2009
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow The Guinean Government in Conakry says it has enough evidence to launch a new court claim against Russian aluminium company, Rusal, for at least $1 billion. A local court filing is expected shortly, government sources in Conakry say, citing evidence of inflated costs and allegations of manipulation of financial accounts […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow Oleg Deripaska, the controlling shareholder and chief executive of Rusal, Russia’s bauxite and aluminium monopoly, is attempting to run the gauntlet of international courts and Hong Kong stock exchange investigators, as time runs out for him to meet his cash-or-list obligations to his shareholding partners, Russian oligarchs Mikhail Prokhorov and […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow A secret meeting in the middle of the night in the presidential palace in the Guinean capital of Conakry, requested by the Russian aluminium oligarch Oleg Deripaska, has triggered a Guinean court ruling and a tax investigation of claims amounting to $700 million. The claims catapult the Guinean government and […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, September 24th, 2009
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow Mahmoud Thiam, the US-trained banker turned resource policymaker for the Guinean government (pictured right), says that the nine-month review he has initiated of the country’s major mineral and mining concessions is not intended to reopen or renege on every deal done with foreign miners during the 25-year rule of Lansana […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, September 24th, 2009
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev has presented two bears to Switzerland, with the warning that if any harm comes to them, or to Victor Vekselberg, a Russian oil and aluminium oligarch, all the Russian money that goes into, or is presently sitting in Switzerland, may vanish. The Swiss Foreign Ministry says […]

by John Helmer - Friday, September 18th, 2009
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow A Republic of Guinea tribunal ruled this week in Conakry that United Company Rusal, one of the largest bauxite, alumina and aluminum producers in the world, unlawfully acquired its shareholding control of the Friguia alumina refinery in the country in 2006, and should make restitution. The judgement comes before the […]

by John Helmer - Friday, September 11th, 2009
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow Two weeks ago, without fanfare, the US Government decided it will not allow General Motors (GM), in which the government owns the controlling 60% stake, to sell its European automobile division to a Russian combination of the state savings bank Sberbank, Oleg Deripaska’s GAZ auto plant, and Deripaska’s Canadian partner, […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow “Mr Deripaska is a man who denies everything”. This was said in the Court of Appeal in London on July 21, by Geoffrey Vos QC, arguing the case on behalf of Deripaska’s former patron and founding stakeholder, Michael Cherney (Mikhail Chernoy), that Deripaska should face trial in England on Cherney’s […]

by Editor - Sunday, August 2nd, 2009
No Comments »

Deripaska’s cashflow chart By John Helmer in Moscow Clark’s Nutcracker is the name of a bird, a member of the crow family, and one of the most famous in the world for a feat of intelligence few human beings, even certified public accountants, can match. Ornithologists have observed that this fellow can remember hundreds of […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, April 16th, 2009
No Comments »