The FSB knocks twice

In the Moscow office of BP, searches were again scandalous around the Russian-British Holding TNK-BP, whose employees are accused of industrial espionage, received an unexpected continuation yesterday. In anticipation of a visit to Moscow, the heads of VP Tony Heyvort, the Moscow office of the British company was visited by law enforcement representatives with a search.

“A dozen people came in the morning and stopped the server. Some employees of the company were told to turn off computers, and some were forced to leave the office. Representatives of the bodies said that they were looking for documents related to Gazprom, - quotes Reuters quoted the source in the company. The official representative of the British holding Vladimir Buyanov told Gazeta that he has no opportunity to comment on the reasons for the visit of law enforcement agencies to the company’s office, but he noted that representatives of the FSB conducted a search. The department itself does not confirm this information. “We do not have such information,” Gazeta told the FSB press service.

"Tetlis" plays hide and seek Today, the Arbitration Court of the Tyumen region will continue the trial in the claim of CJSC Tetlis for TNK-Br. Yesterday's hearings, according to Interfax , were postponed in connection with the petition of TNK-BP, who asks to withdraw Judge Vladimir Loskutov, who is considering the lawsuit. The TNK-BP press service confirmed that the hearing would continue on May 21, but the representative of the press service could not confirm or refute the fact of the judge’s review, referring to the fact that the company cannot provide additional information while the court is underway. The only thing the representative of the Moscow office of the BP is sure that it is not worth expecting any final decision tomorrow, the preliminary hearing and the consideration of the case will continue. The General Director of the Tetlis TETLIS Minority-Benior Defender, Alexander Tagaev, told the newspaper correspondent that he had not heard anything about the searches in the BP office, as well as what was happening in the Tyumen court, as he was busy with other projects and redirected all issues regarding the claim to his Tyumen lawyer. According to the latter, he is not authorized to speak, since the non -disclosure of information is included in the agreement concluded between him and the company Tetlis. “The circle is closed: I can’t say, but he doesn’t want to. Between information openness and my work, I choose the last one,” the lawyer told the newspaper correspondent. Recall that CJSC Tetlis in court disputes the agreement signed between TNK-BP and BP relative to 148 BP foreign experts, seconded to TNK-BP. Tetlis motivates its lawsuit by the fact that the hiring of British specialists is too expensive for the company and damages to shareholders. As a measure to ensure the claim "Tetlis", the Arbitration Court of the Tyumen region banned the activities and payment of the services of foreign specialists. In TNK-BP, they argue that Tetlis CJSC acquired the holding shares shortly before filing a lawsuit. Until October 26, 2007, Tetlis had a license to carry out brokerage activities. The company did not extend the license. The Tetlis office is located, according to the information posted on the official website, in the Sretensky impasse, however, having been on the spot, the Gazeta correspondent found out that the company moved from the specified address at the end of 2007. Alexander Tagaev refused to inform the new physical address "Tetlis". All phones indicated on the CJSC website marked “just to contact” do not answer. Sofya Piskunova, Evlalia Samedova

Vladimir Buyanov also said that the company is working in every possible way with the investigation, and the office is carried out in normal mode. “The entrances and exits are not blocked,” said the representative of the BP in Moscow. The VP office in London Gazeta reported that they knew about the investigative measures in the Moscow representative office. The reasons and details of what was happening in the press service of the BP also did not report, noting only that investigative measures were not related to the activities of the company BP. The British Embassy also refrained from expanded comments. “At present, we are trying to clarify the situation,” the employee said.

Rehearsal

The source of the newspaper, close to the British holding, is convinced that yesterday’s visit to the Moscow office of BP is directly related to searches conducted in the companies of VP and TNK-BP in mid-March of this year. Then the FSB representatives for two days blocked the work of the central office of the Russian-British holding, and then came to the British company with searches. Based on the results of the work, the FSB of Russia charged with industrial espionage in favor of foreign companies to two Russian citizens who also have US citizenship, an employee of the TNK -BP Ilya Zaslavsky and his brother Alexander Zaslavsky, the leading project of the British Club of Graduates. According to the FSB, the Zaslavsky brothers carried out illegal collection of closed commercial information in favor of a number of foreign oil and gas companies in order to obtain specific advantages over Russian competitors, including in the markets of the CIS countries. During the searches conducted in TNK-BP and BP, material evidence was seized confirming the fact of industrial espionage, as well as business cards of employees of foreign military departments and the CIA, the FSB said.

Subsequently, more than a hundred employees of TNK-BP, sent from BP, were faced with difficulties in extending Russian visas. As the newspaper explained in the holding itself, 148 seconded employees of BP were recalled from the Russian-British holding. “The reason for the recall is that the status of these seconded employees is not fully regulated in accordance with the norms of Russian migration legislation,” said a representative of the press service of the Russian-British holding.

Who will eat Gazprom

At the same time, the expert community suggests that one of the possible reasons is pressure on the company's shareholders in order to reduce the price when selling the share of Russian shareholders, Gazprom. According to experts, in addition to searches, tax claims (about $ 250 million), which once again put up companies, can serve as evidence of the pressure company. “The sum of tax claims is not critical for TNK-BP, but the forest should be seen, not just trees. Obviously, the company is under pressure, ”says Timur Khairullin, an analyst with Entente Pioglobal. The expert does not exclude that all these events will eventually lead to changes in the structure of the shareholders of the company.

The expert community spoke about possible changes in the structure of joint-stock capital of the TNK-BP holding in the summer of 2006. The reason for such proposals was the record dividend payments of the company. However, the Russian shareholders of the holding (Alfa Group, Access Industries, Renova) have repeatedly denied rumors about their intention to sell a share in TNK-BP. However, Western experts do not exclude that Russian shareholders, but British ones will have to apply for a package in the energy holding. Experts consider the early resignation of the head of VP Lord John Brown (he left the post 18 months earlier than the intended deadline), because the creation of a joint with the Russian company of the TNK of the enterprise was considered one of the diplomatic achievements of the head of the BP. According to the Western expert community, the sale of part of the British share can be expected this spring. This, in particular, writes The New York Times .

Brilliant connections

“In this whole story, there is not a hint of politics or any espionage affairs, it is solely about compliance with Russian legislation in the migration sphere,” Interfax quotes the words of the source in Russian power structures. Dmitry Medvedev, President of Russia, also called not to listen to the judgments of analysts and politicians. “As far as I understand, it is not about state crimes, but about crimes in the field of economics. The information that I have, indicates that in this case we are talking about a commercial collection of information in the interests of other companies. And such a commercial espionage is a crime under the legislation of any state, ”said Dmitry Medvedev in an interview with the newspaper Financial Times . In his opinion, this scandal will not affect the brilliant economic relations of Russia and Britain. “We can well restore the entire amount of full bilateral cooperation without preliminary conditions,” the president said.

Apparently, it is precisely for this that the head of BP Tony Heyvort is going to come to Moscow. A source of Gazeta, close to BP, claims that in the coming weeks the head of the company will arrive on a visit to Moscow. "It is possible that he will discuss the current problems around the company with the Russian authorities and shareholders of TNK -BP," the source said.

05/21/2008 / Oksana Gavshina, the material was published in the "newspaper" No. 92 dated 05.21.2008.