Translated material
A Spanish court reopened a case against billionaire Mikhail Fridman for deliberately ruining Zed Worldwide. Then it overturned its decision
Update. A court in Spain has overturned a decision to reopen the investigation into Mikhail Fridman's possible involvement in the bankruptcy of Zed WorldWide, RBC reports , citing court documents. A representative of Fridman told RIA Novosti that the case was not reopened: "There was a procedural error, but it has already been corrected. The proceedings have been temporarily suspended."
The National Court of Justice of Spain has reopened a criminal case on the alleged involvement of billionaire Mikhail Fridman and his entourage in the deliberate destruction of the Spanish technology company Zed Worldwide.
The investigating judge of the Court of Justice, Manuel García Castellón, who closed the case in December 2020, has reversed his decision at the request of the prosecutor's office, Deutsche Welle reports, citing the press service of the Court of Justice.
The prosecutor's office insisted on continuing the investigation after certain documents were found, including emails, confirming Fridman's involvement in the bankruptcy of Zed. In addition, the billionaire's trusted persons Anton Kudryashov and Alexey Azarenkov were brought into the case.
The international audit company PwC, as the prosecutor's office claims, discovered violations in the joint firm Tema, founded by Zed WorldWide and Fridman's company VimpelCom, back in 2015. The Russians allegedly secretly withdrew capital from this firm, and then suddenly severed all business ties with Zed WorldWide. It lost half of its income, could not service loans, and eventually went bankrupt.
- The criminal case into the collapse of the Spanish company Zed Worldwide was opened in 2019. The prosecutor's office alleged that Fridman, as both a creditor and shareholder of Zed, directed actions that led to the company's financial insolvency and allowed the Russian to buy it out in 2016 for 20 million euros, which is significantly below the market price of 1.2 billion euros. Mikhail Fridman has always denied involvement in the collapse of Zed Worldwide.