>>16344476

>>16425988

>>16435207

>Strangely enough, Eskom had significant concerns about the Glencore/Xstrata merger, citing that a giant merged entity would “influence domestic coal prices and take advantage of the utility’s supply shortfalls,” Mail & Guardian reported at the end of January 2013.

>Curiously, Eskom withdrew its objections and the merger went through the competition authorities.

>>16435509

>Ms Carroll is currently a non-executive director of Hitachi, Ltd (TYO: 6501)

Hitachi, Ltd. - Cynthia Carroll and bribes to SA government

https://wallmine.com/otc/hthiy/officer/2014852/cynthia-carroll

1 May 2022

Cynthia Blum Carroll has been serving as Independent Director in Hitachi, Ltd. since June 2013. She is also a member of Nominating Committee of the Company. She used to work for Alcan Inc. and Anglo American plc.

“Hitachi to pay $19M to settle charges it bribed South African government”, dated September 30, 2015

https://www.advisenltd.com/hitachi-to-pay-19m-to-settle-charges-it-bribed-south-african-government/

Tokyo-based conglomerate Hitachi Ltd. has agreed to pay $19 million to settle charges it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when inaccurately recording improper payments to South Africa’s ruling political party in connection with contracts to build two multi-billion dollar power plants.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Hitachi sold a 25-percent stake in a South African subsidiary to a company serving as a front for the African National Congress, the agency said in a Sept. 28 press release. The arrangement gave the front company and the ANC the ability to share in the profits from any power station contracts that Hitachi secured.

Hitachi was ultimately awarded two contracts to build power stations in South Africa and paid the ANC’s front company approximately $5 million in “dividends” based on profits derived from the contracts, the SEC said. Through a separate, undisclosed arrangement, Hitachi paid the front company an additional $1 million in “success fees” that were inaccurately booked as consulting fees without appropriate documentation.

“Hitachi’s lax internal control environment enabled its subsidiary to pay millions of dollars to a politically-connected front company for the ANC to win contracts with the South African government,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division. “Hitachi then unlawfully mischaracterized those payments in its books and records as consulting fees and other legitimate payments.”

According to the SEC’s complaint filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia:

• Hitachi was aware that Chancellor House Holdings (Pty) Ltd. was a funding vehicle for the ANC during the bidding process.

• Hitachi nevertheless continued to partner with Chancellor and encourage the company to use its political influence to help obtain government contracts from Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., a public utility owned and operated by the South African government.

• Hitachi paid “success fees” to Chancellor for its exertion of influence during the Eskom tender process pursuant to a separate, unsigned side-arrangement.

• Hitachi’s misconduct violated the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the federal securities laws, specifically Sections 13(b)(2)(A) and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, Hitachi agreed to a settlement that would require the company to pay a $19 million penalty, and it would be permanently enjoined from future violations. The settlement is subject to court approval.

“We particularly appreciate the assistance we received from the African Development Bank’s Integrity and Anti-Corruption Department and hope this is the first in a series of collaborations,” said Kara Brockmeyer, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s FCPA Unit.

>>16435799

Oh there is more!

“Chancellor House: R266m for nine years of lies by ANC partner” – Part 1

https://mg.co.za/article/2015-09-29-chancellor-house-r266-million-for-9-years-of-lies-by-anc-partner/

29 September 2015

Treasurer Zweli Mkhize said the ANC “categorically states that the organisation was not involved, implicated nor approached to answer on anything relating to the charges brought against Hitachi. The ANC was further not involved in the transactions between Hitachi and Chancellor House, nor do we have any information on any impropriety relating to the award of the Medupi or Kusile [power station] contracts to Hitachi. The ANC therefore cannot comment on matters internal to the two parties.”

Mkhize said the ANC would study the outcome of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) matter and “identify appropriate lessons or actions, if any, to be taken.”

Damning for ANC

The long-running US investigation focused solely on the culpability of Hitachi, a company that falls under US jurisdiction by dint of its operations there. It did not examine the guilt or innocence of Chancellor House (and, by proxy, the ANC), leaving US regulators alleging only that Hitachi did the bribing, but not that the ANC was bribed.

To further complicate matters, the Hitachi settlement leaves the allegations made by the SEC untested in court, at least for the time being; the civil settlement does not preclude later criminal action.

Yet the evidence put forward by SEC investigators in its indictment of Hitachi is damning for the ANC, making it clear that Hitachi, at least, was under the impression that it was buying political influence and took steps to hide that fact.

The SEC, which has powers of subpoena and investigation, cites a 2005 Hitachi document that indicates Chancellor House was “politically preferred” when the foreign company was looking for an empowerment partner – with handwritten notes in the margin from an executive “recommendation by Escom [sic]” as well as “ANC treasury”.

A 2010 email confirmed that Hitachi “took ANC influence into consideration” in 2005, when it sold a 25% stake to Chancellor House at a sweetheart price.

Meanwhile, Hitachi sought to cover up the exact nature of its relationship with Chancellor House and so with the ANC. In 2005, it removed provision for a “success fee” payable to Chancellor House from a shareholder’s agreement – because that agreement would have to be made available during the auditing of empowerment credentials. Instead of allowing a “success fee” to a ruling party-linked entity to be “interpreted in a way which it is not intended”, the parties drafted a side agreement that ultimately netted Chancellor House $1-million.

“Chancellor House: R266m for nine years of lies by ANC partner” – Part 2

https://mg.co.za/article/2015-09-29-chancellor-house-r266-million-for-9-years-of-lies-by-anc-partner/

29 September 2015

ANC funding vehicle

Chancellor House was set up in 2003 as an ANC funding vehicle. It bought a 25% stake in a local Hitachi subsidiary in 2005, which subsequently won large contracts with Eskom.

Despite a series of articles by the Mail & Guardian and other publications uncovering the relationships between the three entities, no local action was taken.

In late 2009, then public protector Lawrence Mushwana narrowly investigated a conflict of interest on the part of Moosa, who chaired crucial Eskom board meetings while serving as an ANC executive.

Mushwana found that Moosa should have done a better job of managing the conflict of interest involved, but also explicitly found that “the awarding of the contract by Eskom to an entity in which the ruling party has an interest was not unlawful”.

No other investigation was done into any of Chancellor House’s dealings, which included stakes in other government contracts as well as a controversial mine in Swaziland.

Denial

The ANC at various times said Chancellor House was at arm’s-length from the party, that there was no evidence of corruption or wrongdoing at Chancellor House and that the sale of the Hitachi stake in 2014 had put the entire matter “behind us”.

The more detailed denials were left to Hitachi, which variously said it did not know until too late that Chancellor House was a front for the ANC, that it was not allowed to donate money to political parties and that money paid to Chancellor House would not go to the ANC.

The SEC said Hitachi sold the 25% stake in a South African subsidiary to Chancellor House in an arrangement that “gave the front company and the ANC the ability to share in the profits from any power station contracts that Hitachi secured”.

>>16436128

>Treasurer Zweli Mkhize said the ANC “categorically states that the organisation was not involved, implicated nor approached to answer on anything relating to the charges brought against Hitachi. The ANC was further not involved in the transactions between Hitachi and Chancellor House, nor do we have any information on any impropriety relating to the award of the Medupi or Kusile [power station] contracts to Hitachi. The ANC therefore cannot comment on matters internal to the two parties.”

>Mkhize said the ANC would study the outcome of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) matter and “identify appropriate lessons or actions, if any, to be taken.”

“SA minister Zweli Mkhize put on leave over corruption allegations”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/8/south-africa-health-minister-put-on-leave-over-corruption-allegations

8 June 2021

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has put his Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on special leave, after allegations his department irregularly awarded COVID-19-related contracts to a communications company controlled by his former associates.

“This period of special leave will enable the Minister to attend to allegations and investigations concerning contracts between the Department of Health and a service provider, Digital Vibes,” Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.

It was the latest in a series of corruption allegations linked to coronavirus-related tenders that have caused public outrage. Ramaphosa has promised that corruption during the COVID-19 pandemic will be dealt with harshly.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mkhize told the press that he had approached the president about taking a special leave pending an investigation into the contracts awarded to communications firm Digital Vibes. He has previously denied any wrongdoing.

South Africa’s Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is probing the case, one of over 4,000 coronavirus-linked contracts suspiciously awarded since the start of the pandemic.

Revelations about alleged mishandling of coronavirus funds surfaced last year and have since led investigators to believe that billions of rands have fallen into the hands of politically connected companies.

The SIU last week said that 63 government officials had so far been handed over for prosecution, while 87 companies will be blacklisted.

Mkhize wrote to the ruling African National Congress party last week to request a meeting of its integrity committee to state his case.

A report on the outcome of the SIU probe, which the minister has vowed to make public, is expected by the end of this month.

Mkhize has been health minister since 2018 and led South Africa’s campaign against COVID-19.

He gained popularity through his handling of the pandemic and has been touted as one of the potential successors to Ramaphosa. But links to the coronavirus corruption scandals could tarnish his reputation.

Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane will serve as health minister in the interim. [Their next best person to handle a pandemic]

>>16436128

>>16436151

Remember this which was posted on South Africa Research Board #3

“Co-Chairs’ Summary of the 3 rd Meeting of the Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator Facilitation Council” – Zweli Mkhize- https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/co-chair_summary_3rd_facilitation_council.pdf?sfvrsn=bc162d6a_1&download=true. Below are a few excerpts.

Held on 14 December 2020 and co-Chaired by Dr Zweli Mkhize, Minister of Health of South Africa and Mr Dag-Inge Ulstein, Minister of International Development, Norway, the 3 rd meeting of the ACT Accelerator Facilitation Council had the following three objectives:

• To understand evolving Pillar priorities, plans and timelines in the era of COVID-19 vaccines

• To provide input on a draft financing framework to address the ACT Accelerator funding gaps

• To consider next steps for building the necessary political support for the financing framework

The Co-Chairs note that since the last Council meeting held in November 2020, where a clear macroeconomic case for urgently investing in the ACT Accelerator was laid out, there is even more evidence to suggest that ACT-Accelerator financing can give a solid ‘return on investment’.1

1 Global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines estimated to generate economic benefits of at least US$ 153 billion in 2020–21, and US$ 466 billion by 2025, in 10 major economies, according to new report by the Eurasia Group, published 3 December 2020, https://www.who.int/news/item/03-12-2020-global-access-to-covid-19-vaccines-estimated-to-generateeconomic-benefits-of-at-least-153-billion-in-2020-21

Summary of the programme – 3 rd Council Meeting, 14 December 2020

Co-Chairs: Dr Zweli Mkhize, Minister of Health, South Africa & Mr Dag-Inge Ulstein, Minister of International Development, Norway

Participation: 178 delegates & invitees online

Opening

Evolving ACT Accelerator Priorities and Timelines in the New ‘Era of COVID-19 Vaccines’

• Chair: Dr Mkhize, Minister of Health, South Africa

• Presenter: Dr Anban Pillay, Deputy Director General, Department of Health, South Africa

• Interventions (in speaking order): India, Japan, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Wellcome Trust, Civil Society Organization, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Unitaid, European Commission and International Chamber of Commerce

Developing a Comprehensive Financing Framework for the ACT Accelerator

• Chair: Mr Dag-Inge Ulstein, Minister of International Development, Norway 3

• Presenter: John-Arne Røttingen, Ambassador for Global Health, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

• Interventions (in speaking order): Nepal, Germany, Japan, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Civil Society Organization, World Bank, National Academy of Medicine, France, Indonesia, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Closing summary remarks and next steps

• Intervention: France (ACT-A Charter)

• Co-Chairs: Closing remarks

>>16436139

>The ANC at various times said Chancellor House was at arm’s-length from the party, that there was no evidence of corruption or wrongdoing at Chancellor House and that the sale of the Hitachi stake in 2014 had put the entire matter “behind us”.

“'Yes, we fund the ANC' says Chancellor House after more than a decade of denials of ANC influence on major deals”

https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/investigations/yes-we-fund-the-anc-says-chancellor-house-after-more-than-a-decade-of-denials-of-anc-influence-on-major-deals-20210911

11 September 2021

Chancellor House Holdings, the investment arm of the ANC, has admitted that the ruling party is a beneficiary of a trust that owns the company outright - after years controversy over Chancellor’s valuable stakes in government linked deals.

This includes Hitachi Power Africa, now Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Africa, that was awarded a R20 billion deal in 2007 to build all six boilers at Eskom’s Kusile and Medupi power stations.

The projects are years late and billions of rands over budget. Chancellor House had a 25% stake in Hitachi Power Africa which said at the time it had conducted a due diligence on Chancellor House Trust, which owns Chancellor House Holdings, and found the beneficiaries of the trust included “black ‘natural’ persons, classified into groups such as youth, women, rural citizens and the disabled”, Engineering News reported in 2010.

“ANC’s Chancellor House made 5000% return on the Hitatchi-Eskom deal”

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/ancs-chancellor-house-made-5000-return-on-the-hitatchi-eskom-deal/

6 October 2015

Fin24 reports that he ANC’s front company, Chancellor House, was key in securing contracts worth $5.6 billion for Hitachi to build boilers for Eskom’s far-behind-schedule power plants, but according to a report by the SEC, Hitachi had “inaccurately recorded improper payments” to Chancellor House… a damning accusation that Hitachi had very little to say about.

Now, even though the SEC did not accuse the ANC of any wrongdoing, Chancellor House was mentioned and the deal between essentially the ANC, Eskom and Hitachi left SA with rolling power cuts and led to our economy shrinking by 1.3% in just three months. Oh and did we mention that the stations are four years behind schedule and that the process was started 10 years ago already?

Ok so let’s backtrack a bit and get some scope. Back in 2005 Hitachi Power Europe – they supply boilers and power stations – set up a joint venture with the ANC’s Chancellor House called Hitachi Power Africa as Hitachi had an eye on SA and Chancellor House could ensure that Hitachis African expedition conforms to BEE standards.

So it happened that Chancellor House bought a stake in Hitachi Power Africa and according to the SEC report, “Chancellor House was doing its very best” to get Hitachi the contract. Essentially, the ANC was bidding to get a job with the ANC and the people who had to approve the bid were… wait for it, ANC board members of Eskom. See the problem yet?

In 2007 Eskom awarded the Medupi bid to Hitachi without naming any other bidders and in 2008 they also won Kusile.

The French connection.

Ok so, according to the SEC report, Eskom had initially awarded the Medupi contract to a French multinational, but Hitachi had somehow learned that the deal was under some stress so “directed Chancellor House to help Hitachi win reconsideration of the boiler component of the Medupi power station contract.” To smooth the deal, Hitachi Europe agreed on a success fee that would be paid to Chancellor House, but only if they help them win the bid.Don’t believe it? Here’s an excerpt from an internal Hitachi memo the SEC got hold of: “Balance of political power in board (ANC driven currently in our favour).”

The ruling party’s cut.

Fin24 reports that Chancellor House paid $190 819 for its stake in 2005. By 2008, Hitachi’s African unit started making payments of success fees, which it reported as “consulting fees”, and dividends totalled around $6 million. In February 2012, it also paid Chancellor House $4.5 million to buy its 25% stake, giving the ANC’s Chancellor House a 5 000% return on its investment – even though Medupi isn’t running at half capacity and Kusile isn’t even finished — , the SEC documents read.

“DA complains to IEC regarding Chancellor House’s R15 million donation to ANC”

https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/da-complains-to-iec-regarding-chancellor-houses-r15-million-donation-to-anc/

19 November 2021

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has complained to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) about the R15 million donation Chancellor House has made to the African National Congress (ANC), saying it defeats the aim of ensuring transparency with regards to who funds political parties.

The ANC reported to the Electoral Commission in terms of the 2nd quarterly disclosures for the year as per the Political Party Funding Act, that the company, its investment vehicle, donated the money on 31 August.

The DA contends that by receiving donations through the trust, the ANC is able to conceal the source of its donations.

The DA wants the IEC to tighten up the Political Party Funding Act to ensure that political parties cannot subvert its objectives.

“If the ANC’s fundraising arm is giving R15 million to the ANC, it is obviously fundraised. Now it is highly unlikely that this was a huge amount of donations under R100 000, it is likely that this was donations over R100 000 where that came from we don’t know. Now, if it can be argued that this is interest from money that was earned I mean that is a significant amount of money,” says DA Federal Finance Chairperson Deon George.

The IEC however says that at this initial stage it is not empowered to probe non-disclosure or force political parties to disclose their donations.

“We have not looked at who the trustees are because we don’t go to that extent; we look at whether it is South African if it is a South African registered trust if it is allowed to donate to who it wants to donate. If there is prima facie evidence that can be brought before the commission then it will be looked at legally who are the trustees, are they allowed to donate or give dividends. As things stand we do not go into the details of investigating if the trustee is linked to the donor,” says IEC Deputy Chief Electoral Officer for Political Party Funding George Mahlangu.

Political analyst Lukhona Mnguni says that a number of loopholes exist in the Political Party Funding Act and can be exploited by mischievous political parties. Mnguni says there are a number of issues to consider in relation to the Chancellor House/ANC donation.

“ The ANC’s misgivings with Chancellor House Trust is that they should be able to gain as much as possible but now with the cap on a single donor per annum. It actually frustrates them because there may be more funds held at Chancellor House that could be of use to the party instead of the concern being Chancellor House concealing certain monies is whether or not in the future there will be transactions from Chancellor House to other entities and then those entities can then donate to the ANC which will mean that in fact, Chancellor House is donating much more as a single donor but through other multiple vehicles.”

>>16425138

>A widely read 1999 article in the foreign-policy journal The National Interest, written by ex-CIA officer and National Security Council staffer Fritz W. Ermarth, noted that, as far back as 1985, the KGB was engaged in the massive transfer of assets abroad via commodities trading through front companies.

>“The program evolved into . . . avenues for squirreling away funds for the safe retirement or political comeback of embattled communist leaders,” Ermarth writes.

>If Rich had anything to do with this, then he would have had a key role in making the world safe for nuclear-armed communist tyrants who were America’s greatest enemies.

“[In shock] | here is how much ANC received form Russian billionaire Viktor” – Part 1

https://za.opera.news/za/en/economy-finance/1c4e031e7912b369d0f31eb6270f096f

Posted 9 months ago

The cash-strapped ANC has received a $5 million donation from a mining company, part owned by the Russian billionaire oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who has ties to the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to the first party financing report released by the Independent Electoral Commission on Thursday, manganese mining company United Manganese Kalahari (UMK), the largest producer of quantity ore in the country and has a balance sheet of 2.5 billion rupees, was among the companies donated to the ANC between April and June this year [2021].

In 2000, Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska founded the United Company Rusal, the largest aluminium company in the world. From 2018 to 2016 he was president of EN Group, a Russian energy company, and since 2018 he has been head of the company.

One of the groups of oligarchies, the AAR consortium, which teamed up with BP to form TNK BP, is one of Russia's largest oil companies and has long-standing access to the industry through [Len] Blavatnik, founded in 1986, two years before he became a US citizen, which he now uses for investment.

Blavatnik is part of a group of oligarchs in the consortium AAR that has teamed up with the British oil giant BP to create TNK-BP, one of Russia's largest oil companies. His assets include the Siberian energy company Eurosibenergo (ru), 23% of Russia's largest private energy company.

He also owns 10% of InGosstrakh, one of the country's largest insurance companies, the Gaz Group, a manufacturer of cars, trucks and buses, and he is founder of the agricultural company Kuban Agro-Holdings.

Khodorkovsky hired a Western accounting firm, and Yukos became one of the few Russian companies to recognize its major shareholders.

Hardliners in the government feared that Putin would wake one morning to discover that Russia’s most strategically valuable energy companies had been seized by western corporations. In the end, BP and AAR were bought by a company owned by Russia's state-backed energy company Rosneft.

Deripaska is known for his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian oligarch, who has a fortune of $5.5 billion (2.4 billion euros), is also known for his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is a close ally of the Kremlin.

Ingosstrakh has 83 offices throughout Russia, and the companies "offices are located in 220 Russian cities.

The Russian state audit chamber, the equivalent of the US government accountability office, has a final report expected to be issued by the end of the year, but Russian officials said an interim report on inspections of 140 privatized companies had uncovered 56 violations of government regulations.

“[In shock] | here is how much ANC received form Russian billionaire Viktor” – Part 2

https://za.opera.news/za/en/economy-finance/1c4e031e7912b369d0f31eb6270f096f

Posted 9 months ago

In an incident broadcast on Russian television, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a disused Deripaska cement factory and berated its management.

He forced Deripaskas to sign a contract in which he promised to pay $1 million in unpaid wages. Igor Shuvalov, one of Putin's economic advisers, warned that Yukos would not be the last company to be attacked.

Motorists no longer need to seek quotes from some well-known insurers. Online offers give policyholders the opportunity to discover several insurance companies and check their prices. It is one thing for foreign companies to be minority investors, but when they buy operational control, their payments can be diverted to oligarchs.

Blavatnik, who is a British and US citizen, has ties to Vladimir Putin in Russia, and the controversy over his business background means that criticism will follow his donations, especially when they relate to institutions named after the buildings in which he resided.

At a time when various Russian oilmen were courted by foreign majors, Western businessmen say, he was the only one who could sit down and negotiate deals. After the fall of communism, access to investment in Russia, especially in energy and aluminum companies, began after the country broke away.

Khodorkovsky's denunciation of the state oil company Rosneft presented Putin with a challenge, and the company was headed by Sergei Bogdanchikov, an associate of Siloviki.

US diplomats claim that one of AAR's masterminds, German Khan, was involved in a state-funded campaign against BP to force the company out of Russia.

The donor is Viktor Vekselburg, who has close ties to the Russian government. He said he had never had an objective reason to fear a prison sentence and resented the sanctions imposed earlier this year on Verkselberg, another billionaire and his former partner.

He has donated to government projects such as the Winter Olympics and the school in Sochi, but never more than a few million dollars, he says. The money that the Russian people gave to the African National Congress was to be paid to people who had not received a salary for three months.

Fridman's dilemma gives an insight into the relationship between business and power in Russia. He is known for being curious, polite and persistent. Linked to BP, he has given up half of his oil assets but says he has saved the other half from government pillaging.

>>16436216

>One of the groups of oligarchies, the AAR consortium, which teamed up with BP to form TNK BP, is one of Russia's largest oil companies and has long-standing access to the industry through [Len] Blavatnik, founded in 1986, two years before he became a US citizen, which he now uses for investment.

“Fortunes of UK online billionaires soar by a FIFTH during lockdown: Sunday Times Rich List reveals record 171 billionaires in Britain despite lockdown as Sir Leonard Blavatnik comes out top with £23bn wealth”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9603711/Ukrainian-oligarch-Sir-Leonard-Blavatnik-tops-Sunday-Times-Rich-List.html

21 May 2021

A record 171 billionaires in the UK saw their fortunes soar by more than a fifth as they shook off the financial toll of the pandemic, the Sunday Times Rich List reveals.

Ukrainian-born Sir Leonard Blavatnik, 63, has topped the Rich List for the second time with his £23billion fortune following a £7.2billion leap in wealth.

Overall, the number of UK-based billionaires has jumped by 24 per cent compared to 2020 in a stark contrast with the economic turmoil of a global crisis which saw millions enter furlough.

But this had little impact on the very wealthiest, with the fortunes of billionaires increasing by 21.7 per cent over the year - rising by £106.5billion to £597.2billion.

Blavatnik, 63, saw his personal wealth leap by £7.219billion, placing him at the top of the Rich List for the second time since 2015 - when he was worth £13.17billion.

Chelsea owner and fellow Russian Roman Abramovich also saw his fortune climb, rising by £1.9 billion to £12.1 billion for the year.

#1 - Sir Leonard Blavatnik - £23 billion

Age: 63

Industry: Music and chemicals

The Ukrainian-born magnate sits atop an empire that spans from entertainment to chemicals.

After graduating from Colombia University with a degree in computer science, he made investments in Russian energy companies following the fall of the Soviet Union.

In 2013 he sold his stake in oil company TNK-BP, netting him more than £5billion. Two years prior, he had bought Warner Music for £2.4billion.

The philanthropist currently lives in London and has donated to UK institutions including Oxford University, which named its Blavatnik School of Government after him.

He has also donated to both U.S. Republicans and Democrats, including to Donald Trump's presidential inaugural committee.

>>16425138

>You can read about it in “Godfather of the Kremlin,” an exhaustively researched book about Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky [Boris Abramovich Berezovsky was born in 1946, in Moscow, to Abram Markovich Berezovsky (1911–1979),[24] a Jewish civil engineer in construction works - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Berezovsky_(businessman)], which was published last fall. The author is Paul Klebnikov, an expert on Russia and a Forbes magazine senior editor.

>The book details the myriad ways Berezovsky and his minions stole untold sums from the Russian people through international financial schemes.

>“Marc Rich ended up being a mentor to all these young kids who came out of the Communist Party establishment, and who made billions off these schemes themselves,” Klebnikov charges.

>>16436343

>Chelsea owner and fellow Russian Roman Abramovich also saw his fortune climb, rising by £1.9 billion to £12.1 billion for the year.

“From poor orphan to billionaire oligarch: how Abramovich made his money” – Part 1

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/21/roman-abramovich-billionaire-oligarch-money-russia-chelsea

21 March 2022

Roman Abramovich’s journey from an impoverished, orphaned childhood to Chelsea-owning billionaire was forged in the chaotic transformation of Russia itself, in the years after the iron curtain fell.

His elevation into an oligarch is unusually well documented, chronicled in painstaking detail in an English high court judgment of Lady Justice Gloster in 2012, when Abramovich succeeded in defending a lawsuit brought by his former mentor, Boris Berezovsky.

In the case, both men described their careers, and routes to becoming billionaires, as “a uniquely Russian story”.

After communism fell, he worked his way up in trading and transportation of oil and other industrial products. The court judgment records that at the time of his first, transformational meeting with Berezovsky, on a Caribbean cruise in December 1994, Abramovich was “a moderately successful businessman”.

Creation of Sibneft

The creation of the vast state oil concern Sibneft, whose formation and sale to Abramovich made his fortune, was an idea he conceived and suggested to Berezovsky, the court judgment noted.

Already rich from his dealings in the automotive sector, and politically connected, Berezovsky was the ideal business partner for Abramovich. Obsessed with opposing any prospect of Russia returning to communism [yeah right!], Berezovsky proposed Abramovich’s idea to the then president, Boris Yeltsin: merging a crude oil producer with a refinery, and handing control of the enlarged business to Abramovich and Berezovsky. In exchange, Berezovsky would use revenues from the new oil company to fund a TV station, ORT, to broadcast pro-Yeltsin propaganda.

Yeltsin created Sibneft by decree in August 1995, when Abramovich was still only 29. Then, the judgment records, the new huge oil concern was sold to Abramovich in a series of auctions whose price in some cases is stated to have been rigged, with other bidders discouraged by various means. Abramovich bought 90% of Sibneft for approximately $240m, using only $18.8m of his own capital, although Gloster said it was “possibly more”.

The judgment states that it was Abramovich’s own case that he had a deal to pay Berezovsky for political influence, that this deal was “corrupt”, and that Berezovsky’s political lobbying activities were “inherently corrupt”.

Abramovich’s barrister, Jonathan Sumption QC, “accepted that Mr Abramovich was privy to that corruption, but submitted that the reality was that that was how business was done in Russia in those times”. [and it still continues…]

“From poor orphan to billionaire oligarch: how Abramovich made his money” – Part 2

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/21/roman-abramovich-billionaire-oligarch-money-russia-chelsea

21 March 2022

‘Good relations’ with Putin

The court judgment also noted that Abramovich had “good relations” with Vladimir Putin, Yeltsin’s successor, and unlike Berezovsky and other oligarchs who fell out with the new president, Abramovich continued to flourish.

According to the judgment he made another fortune from the acquisition of companies in Russia’s aluminium industry, and in 2003 he sold a 25% stake in the RusAl aluminium company to another oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, for $1.9bn. He sold a further 25% for $540m.

Abramovich emerged from this brutal environment, described in the court case as “the wild east”, to global fame and celebrity when he bought Chelsea in 2003.

He and his management team, some of whom have remained trusted associates throughout, improved Sibneft and modernised its operations. Then in 2005, Gazprom, the huge fuel company majority-owned by the Russian state, bought his then 72% stake, paying £7.4bn.

Evraz

The billions Abramovich made from Russia’s privatisations funded his famously lavish lifestyle: grand houses, private jets, yachts and fast cars, the £1.5bn he pumped into Chelsea, and a portfolio of further investments.

The most public is a 29% stake in Evraz, a London Stock Exchange-listed industrial conglomerate with steel production plants in Russia, the US and Canada, which had revenues of $14bn in 2021. The UK government cited Evraz as a reason for targeting Abramovich with sanctions, along with its assessment that he had “a close relationship for decades” with Putin.

Evraz was accused of providing services or goods to the Russian state, “which includes potentially supplying steel to the Russian military which may have been used in the production of tanks”. The company denied that, saying it “supplies long steel to infrastructure and construction sectors only”.

The value of Evraz – £12bn in 2021 – has plummeted 86%, and trading in its shares was suspended after sanctions were imposed on Abramovich.

The oligarch has previously vehemently disputed reports suggesting his alleged closeness to Putin and Russia, or that he has done anything to merit sanctions being imposed against him.

>>16436216

>The cash-strapped ANC has received a $5 million donation from a mining company, part owned by the Russian billionaire oligarch Viktor Vekselberg

“Rosneft deal makes Viktor Vekselberg Russia's richest man”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/oct/23/rosneft-deal-viktor-vekselberg-russia-rich

23 October 2012

He may not be the most famous businessman in Russia, but Viktor Vekselberg is now the richest.

That is the status the natural resources investor has been accorded by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, following AAR's sale of its 50% stake in TNK-BP to Rosneft for $28bn (£17.5bn) on Monday.

Vekselberg is one of five Russian oligarchs who control the AAR consortium – alongside Mikhail Fridman, Leonard Blavatnik, German Khan and Alexey Kuzmichev – and his latest deal means he is now worth $18bn and the 40th richest person in the world. That puts him more than $700m ahead of the metals and technology investor Alisher Usmanov, the Arsenal investor who had previously topped the list.

The deal also added $1.2bn to Fridman's fortune, moving him past the Russian billionaires Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, and the steel and mining billionaire Alexey Mordashov, according to Bloomberg, and making Fridman the country's fifth-richest person.

Vekselberg's rise is fascinating. Born in western Ukraine, he trained as an engineer and went into business in 1990, in the dying months of the Soviet Union. By 1996 he had risen to become chairman of Tyumen Oil (TNK) and negotiated the 50-50 partnership between TNK and BP. He also co-founded his own aluminium group, subsequently part of the giant Rusal, with his business interests now managed by his Renova Group.

During the same meeting the billionaire described himself as "half-American" – his wife, Marina, and their two children, a daughter and a son, are all US citizens. He also pleaded for "open communication" between Russian business and the west; in his role as chair of the international affairs committee of the Union of Russian Industrialists and Entrepreneurs he has dispatched delegations to Washington to meet US officials. His pragmatic attitude towards the US is at odds with the ferocious anti-western rhetoric frequently emanating from the Kremlin.

The revisions to the rich list occurred after the Kremlin-controlled oil group Rosneft said on Monday it would buy the whole of TNK-BP from AAR and BP for $55bn. As AAR sells its 50% TNK-BP holding to Rosneft, simultaneously the British-based oil company is also offloading its 50% stake in the joint venture for cash and shares in Rosneft valued at about $27bn.

The sale of TNK-BP has come after years of disputes between BP and AAR in which the pair have battled each other in the courts, AAR has blocked dividends from the joint venture and the Russian oligarchs have scuppered BP's hopes of an earlier tie-up with Rosneft in the Arctic.

While Vekselberg's fortune is on the rise, his ascent to the summit of his country's rich list was also was aided by woes for Usmanov. His fortune has dropped on the index by more than $1bn in the past week as MegaFon, Russia's second-largest mobile-phone company in which Usmanov is a key shareholder, postponed its London flotation.

>>16408829

>Glencore holds a 10.5% stake in aluminium and hydropower company En+ that in turns is the majority owner of Russian aluminium producer Rusal (RUAL.MM).

Is it not interesting that “Rusal” are the middle letters of "Je[rusal]em"?

“Rusal, Sual To Create Russian Aluminum Giant” – Merge with Glencore

http://www.worldal.com/news/russia/2006-11-07/126398397312619.shtml

November 7, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) – Russian aluminum producers Rusal Ltd. and Sual Group on Monday announced a three-way merger that would create the world's largest producer of aluminum, continuing a bigger-is-better trend sweeping the metals industry.

Moscow-based Rusal, currently the world's third-largest producer of the light metal, is combining assets with smaller Russian producer Sual and alumina refineries owned by Swiss commodities trader Glencore International in a stock-swap.

"The new joint company will be highly ambitious and today's announcement is a staging post towards our future objectives," said Rusal Chairman Oleg Deripaska in a statement.

Under the terms of Russian deal, Rusal shareholder EN+ the holding company for Rusal and two Russian energy firms will own 66% of the new company. SUAL's shareholders will take 22% and Glencore will own 12%.

The companies expect to complete the deal by April 2007, subject to antitrust approvals, and take the merged company public in London within three years of the closing.

With aluminum smelters and refineries spanning the globe, it will employ 110,000 people in 17 countries.

Alcoa will still outrank its European competitor in alumina. Pittsburg-based Alcoa makes about 15 million metric tons of alumina the white powder that's turned into aluminum to United Company Rusal's 11 million tons.

>>16436784

>Russian aluminum producers Rusal Ltd. and Sual Group on Monday announced a three-way merger that would create the world's largest producer of aluminum, continuing a bigger-is-better trend sweeping the metals industry.

>>16436216

>>16409418

>>16413886

>>16414246 - Boards Where Ivan Glasenberg Serves - Rusal Plc, since 2007 >>16408829

It’s all connected

Viktor Vekselberg founded SUAL

https://www.skoltech.ru/en/team/viktor-vekselberg/

1990, together with his partners, Viktor Vekselberg co-founded Renova Group later became one of the largest diversified investment companies in Russia. Subsequently, Viktor Vekselberg bought out his business partners. In 1996, Renova founded SUAL Holding, and Viktor Vekselberg became its President and later in 2003 its Board Chairman. In 2007, SUAL Holding merged with Russian Aluminium into UC Rusal, and until 2012, Viktor Vekselberg chaired the board of the newly formed company. In 2002 – 2003, he chaired the Board of the Tyumen Oil Company (TNK), and in 2003 – 2013 was a member of the TNK-BP Board of Directors. In 2010, Renova shifted its investment focus onto solar power generation, and in 2013, the Group made an exit from the oil and gas business. [Going green?]

In 2010, Viktor was elected as Head of the Skolkovo Innovation Center project. In 2019 – 2020, he chaired the Skolkovo Board of Directors, and from 2020, he has been a member of the Board. In 2021, appointed as Chairman of the Skoltech Board of Trustees.

Viktor Vekselberg is a member of the Management Board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, he chairs its Committee for International Cooperation and is a member of several transnational business councils (Russia-Germany, Russia-Italy, Russia-France, Russia-Switzerland, Russia-China). Viktor Vekselberg is a member of the Donor Group of Avenir Suisse, a think tank based in Switzerland.

Charity

Viktor spends a considerable amount of his time on charity, he supports museums and theaters. In 2004, he founded the Link of Times charity foundation with a mission to repatriate lost artworks. In 2004, Viktor Vekselberg purchased the world’s largest collection of imperial Easter eggs by Carl Fabergé and gave it a home at a museum he founded in St. Petersburg which has now become one of the largest private museums in Russia. He is a trustee of the Tretyakov Gallery and Chairman of Honor of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center and the founder of its Endowment. Also sponsors the annual Moscow Easter Festival, with Maestro Valery Gergiev as its artistic director, and the international music festivals in Verbier and Lucerne (Switzerland). He is a member of the Bureau of the Presidium of the Russian Jewish Congress and is its Counsellor for Countering Antisemitism. Member of the Council of Patrons of the Conference of European Rabbis.

“Glencore/ Congo/ Child labor/ Pollution/ 2012”

https://youtu.be/s0ScVzmR-5g

>>16408886

>“If they could participate in bribing and price-fixing around America, how much of that happened in Africa? How is it that SA escaped that? I don’t believe that for a moment,” he said

“Counting the Cost – Glencore [0:00-9:08]: Taking over the world?” [2011]

https://youtu.be/RgyqtDPY-xw

“We look at the world's biggest listed commodities trader and its controversial start to public life.”

1:16 – “Valued at $58 billion, Glencore is the world’s biggest listed trader of commodities by capitalization. It raised $7.9 billion in its London stock sale and has revenues of $144.9 Billion. Put in another way, same as the economic output of the whole of New Zealand. Glencore doesn’t have a population of 4.2 million people, like New Zealand does. It makes do with just 55 000 employees. It operates on nearly every continent and holds stakes in public traded companies worth $30 billion and its CEO Ivan Glasenberg owns almost 16% of the company valuing his holding at $9.3 billion. Now obviously it’s not illegal to be a big successful company but when one company has this influence through its size and some say even its practices, then there is a concern. Consider these stakes. The oil market, Glencore has got a 3% market share. Not huge, I’ll grant you but then you get into the other numbers; copper up to 50% of that market, zinc even more, 60%, and grains 9% but think about the effect that would have on food prices. The absolute basics for so many people around the world. In fact Devin Couric, who’s a researcher with grain, a non-profit organisation on food security, told Al Jazeera, “Glencore owns almost 300 000 hectares of farm land and it is one of the largest farm operators in the world. They are engaging in speculation on the grain trade and have immense market power.””

>>16493696

>Glencore: Taking over the world? [2011]

>>16473115

>The shareholders were offered cash, not securities. Today, Cheney says, money is the only thing that matters. Management is protected by its golden parachutes, the stockholders will tender their shares to Ho Chi Minh if the price is right and a lot of the P.R. function centers on the price tag, not the quality of the offer. There have been times in the last five years when I've said to myself, 'Gee, this isn't my country any more. Something's happened.'

>>16435203

>Although Xstrata’s website talks about the company’s ‘small beginnings a decade ago’, the diversified mining giant was founded as an infrastructure and electrics company called Südelektra in Switzerland in 1926. In 1990 the company’s business changed dramatically when the man who started Glencore – namely [Marc] Rich – acquired the majority of the company’s shares, focused the business on mining and got rid of non-core interests.

>Rich sold his interests in Südelektra soon after his bad zinc deal and the run-in with his Glencore boys, which saw him exit the company. At one stage Xstrata was an obscure investment vehicle, but a series of aggressive acquisitions changed all that. Today Xstrata, listed on the LSE and Swiss Stock Exchange, operates in over 20 countries and employs over 70,000 people.

>>16483911

>Glasenberg called in Blair, a friend, to act as mediator for a day when Glencore and Xstrate negotiated their merger. Blair was paid $1 million for a couple of hours, the Daily Mail reported.

>>16435203

>But the listing changed all that, as did Glasenberg’s next big move – pursuing Xstrata in a $33-billion deal that would see the company run by Mick Davis become a wholly owned subsidiary of Glencore. The deal has seen its fair share of action and nasty turns, which is said to have destroyed the friendship that existed between Davis and Glasenberg.

Xstrata had come full circle. Was their intention to make money from the stock market listing in order to acquire Xstrata?

“Why Poverty - Stealing Africa” [Covers Glencore, Ivan Glasenberg, Marc Rich, etc.]

https://youtu.be/VnstpUZsii8

“Rüschlikon is a village in Switzerland with a very low tax rate and very wealthy residents, but it receives more tax revenue than it can use. This is largely thanks to one resident, Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore, whose copper mines in Zambia are not generating a large bounty tax revenue for the Zambians. Zambia has the third largest copper reserves in the world, but 60 per cent of the population live on less than $1 a day and 80 per cent are unemployed. Based on original research into public documents, the film describes the tax system employed by multinational companies in Africa.”

56:36 – “The leak of the audit report did not upset the market. In May 2011, Glencore raised over US$10 billion making it the world’s largest IPO that year. Buyers included the Church of England and the Norwegian government through its oil fund… Ivan Glasenberg made $8.8 billion on the IPO, 400 other Glencore employees made over $100 million each. In late 2012, former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was brought in to help negotiate an $80 billion merger between Glencore and the mining giant, Xstrata. If successful, the merger will almost double the company size and influence in the world.”

[It is worth watching in full. A good summary of most of the posts above.]

>>16493808

Glencore is a World Economic Forum Partner

https://www.weforum.org/partners

Our Partners

World Economic Forum Partners are leading global companies developing solutions to the world’s greatest challenges. They are the driving force behind the Forum’s programmes.

Our Partners engage in Forum Platforms to shape the future, accessing networks and experts to ensure strategic decision-making on the most pressing world issues.

"You'll own nothing. And you'll be happy"

https://www.weforum.org/organizations/glencore

Glencore International

Glencore is one of the world's largest global diversified natural resource companies and a major producer and marketer of more than 90 commodities. The group's operations comprise over 150 mining and metallurgical sites, oil production assets and agricultural facilities. Glencore has a strong footprint in both established and emerging regions for natural resources and a global network of more than 90 offices located in over 50 countries supports its industrial and marketing activities. Glencore's customers are industrial consumers.