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The Russian oil producer Rosneft denied statements about the company’s operations made in the book Putin’s People released last spring, counsel Desmond Browne said during a hearing in the High Court of London.
UK mass media reported earlier that Rosneft had filed a lawsuit against HarperCollins, the publisher of the book, and Catherine Belton, its author.
Browne indicated during the second day of hearing in the court that statements regarding the circumstances of Rosneft’s purchase of Severnaya Neft and Yuganskneftegaz in 2003 and 2004 accordingly were untenable, TASS reports from the court room. Allegations of making such transactions at the understated value show a “lack of credible evidence,” the counsel said.
The claimant characterized statements made by Yukos ex-chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose assets fell under the control of Rosneft, as biased. Certain allegations in the book regarding Rosneft’s operations “affect the reputation of the company and also to specific employees of the company,” the counsel said.
Russian businessmen Roman Abramovich, Mikhail Fridman and Pyotr Aven also filed suits against the publishing house and Ms. Belton. The counsel of Fridman and Aven said, during the first day of the hearing, that the publishers reached a settlement with them having agreed to remove all parts that were the subject of the suit from future editions of the book s and issue a public apology.
Rosneft’s representatives did not coordinate their case with the lawyers of Abramovich, Fridman and Aven, Browne noted separately during the case hearing.
