Abramovich case told ‘rule of law had disappeared’

CHELSEA Football Club owner Roman Abramovich operated in a Russian state in which the “rule of law” had disappeared, police were “corrupt”, courts “open to manipulation” and businessmen needed access to a “political godfather”, a judge in London has heard.

Counsel for the billionaire Russian businessman told Mrs Justice Gloster that “quite extraordinary conditions” prevailed in Russia following the collapse of communism in 1992 and said it was “not easy” for English lawyers to assess the behaviour of people who lived in “such a world”.

Jonathan Sumption was describing Russia in the 1990s as he summarised Abramovich’s defence in a multi-billion pound legal battle at the Commercial Court in London.