Translated material
Navalny asks the Supreme Arbitration Court to oblige Rosneft to provide him with documents
Alexey Navalny, who is a minority shareholder of Rosneft, filed an application with the Supreme Arbitration Court (SAC) of Russia for a supervisory review of the decisions of lower courts, which previously rejected his claim to oblige the oil company to provide him with certain documents.
Navalny's application was received by the Supreme Court on April 1.
Since April 2011, Alexey Navalny has been seeking copies of seven Rosneft contracts for the supply of raw materials to China and minutes of board meetings for 2009. Among the documents requested by the minority shareholder are agreements on the issuance of a loan to Rosneft by the Chinese Development Bank for $15 billion, as well as an agreement on the supply of crude oil to the Chinese National Oil Corporation for a period of 20 years - from 2011 to 2030. According to Navalny, these agreements were concluded on unfavorable terms.
Rosneft's lawyer stated that the company does not recognize Navalny's claim in full. According to representatives of the oil company, civil contracts relate to primary accounting documents and can only be provided to shareholders owning more than 25% of the shares, while Navalny’s share is less than one hundred thousandth. Navalny, as a shareholder of the company, is abusing his rights, Rosneft believes.
The company also fears that the minority shareholder may disclose confidential information. Basic information about the concluded agreements is posted publicly on the Rosneft website.
In May 2012, the Moscow Arbitration Court denied Navalny, pointing out that the minority shareholder had repeatedly posted on the Internet copies of agreements and minutes of management bodies of other companies of which he is a shareholder. The court considered this an abuse of rights on the part of Navalny and concluded that similar actions could be committed by a minority shareholder in relation to Rosneft documents.
On August 6, 2012, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the first instance court.
Speaking at the hearing of the appeal court, Navalny's representative asked to cancel the contested decision.
The representative of Rosneft supported the decision of the court of first instance, but expressed disagreement with some points of the reasoning part of the decision.
A representative of the Federal Service for Financial Markets (FSFM), which acts as a third party in the case, supported Navalny’s position. He stated that the court of first instance committed a violation of substantive and procedural law and did not comply with the instructions of the cassation court.
On December 13, the Federal Arbitration Court of the Moscow District upheld the decision of the lower courts.