Russian authorities have placed Vladimir Yevtushenkov, one of the country’s richest men, under house arrest on charges of money laundering.
俄罗斯政府指控该国最富有的人之一弗拉基米尔•叶夫图申科夫(Vladimir Yevtushenkov)洗钱，已对他实行软禁。Mr Yevtushenkov is the chairman and largest holder of AFK Sistema, one of Russia’s biggest private corporations.
叶夫图申科夫是俄罗斯最大的私企之一AFK Sistema的董事长和最大股东。
Sistema’s subsidiaries include MTS, one of the largest mobile operators in Russia, oil company Bashneft and Russian children’s store Detsky Mir.
Sistema旗下子公司包括俄罗斯最大的移动通信运营商之一MTS、石油公司Bashneft以及俄罗斯儿童用品商店Detsky Mir。
Forbes ranks Mr Yevtushenkov as the 15th richest man in Russia with a net worth of $6.8bn. Lord Mandelson, the prominent former British government minister, sits on Sistema’s board.
在《福布斯》(Forbes)的俄罗斯富豪榜上，叶夫图申科夫位列第15位，其净资产为68亿美元。知名的英国前内阁大臣曼德尔森勋爵(Lord Mandelson)是Sistema董事会成员。Vladimir Markov, a spokesman for Russia’s investigative committee, the country’s equivalent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, yesterday said a Russian court had decided to place Mr Yevtushenkov under house arrest. This came after, he said, investigators claimed there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Sistema had employed “criminal means” in its acquisition of Bashneft in which Mr Yevtushenkov had been complicit.
俄罗斯调查委员会（相当于美国的联邦调查局）发言人弗拉基米尔•马尔科夫(Vladimir Markov)昨日表示，俄罗斯一法院已决定对叶夫图申科夫实行软禁。他表示，此举缘于调查人员称，有“合理依据”相信Sistema在收购Bashneft时采用了“犯罪手段”，而叶夫图申科夫在这件事上难辞其咎。Sistema said in a statement it considered the allegations against him “wholly unfounded” and said it would use “all our opportunities to appeal against it”.
Sistema在一份声明中表示，其认为针对叶夫图申科夫的指控“毫无根据”，并表示将利用“我们的一切机会对此提出上诉”。In Russia, criminal investigations are often used as a way to settle political scores.
在俄罗斯，刑事调查往往被用来进行政治上的报复。Troubles for Sistema began this summer when authorities in the Bashkortostan Republic, a central Russian region, which is also Bashneft’s former owner, alleged that Sistema had underpaid for the company when it was acquired from the local government in 2009, suing Sistema for $5.8bn in damages. The lawsuit came ahead of an initial public offering that Bashneft was planning in London.
Sistema的麻烦开始于今年夏季，当时位于俄罗斯中部的巴什科尔托斯坦共和国(Bashkortostan Republic)当局指控称，Sistema在2009年以偏低价格向当地政府收购了Bashneft，并以此为由，请求法庭命令Sistema支付58亿美元的损害赔偿金。在此次诉讼之前，Bashneft正计划在伦敦上市。Mr Yevtushenkov’s arrest will deal another blow to Russia’s investment climate, which has rapidly deteriorated this year on the back of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Moscow’s involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
叶夫图申科夫被捕将让俄罗斯投资环境再受冲击。在俄罗斯吞并克里米亚和莫斯科卷入乌克兰东部冲突的背景下，今年俄罗斯的投资环境迅速恶化。One of Russia’s richest men, Mr Yevtushenkov came to prominence in Moscow in the early 1990s, when he was seen as close to Yuri Luzhkov, the then powerful mayor of Moscow.
叶夫图申科夫是俄罗斯的首富之一，他于上世纪90年代初在莫斯科声名鹊起，被认为与强势的时任莫斯科市长尤里•卢日科夫(Yuri Luzhkov)关系密切。He acquired many of his assets during the chaotic privatisations of the Yeltsin era when many state-owned properties were sold off for a song to politically-connected businessmen.
他的许多资产都是在叶利钦时代混乱的私有化期间获得的，当时许多国有资产被以极低价格抛售给与政界关系密切的商人。MTS shares fell close to 2 per cent in New York on the news of the arrest.
叶夫图申科夫被捕消息传出后，在纽约上市的MTS股价下跌近2%。