Abramovich good at ‘appearing humble’

CHELSEA Football Club owner Roman Abramovich is “good at appearing to be humble”, a British High Court judge was told.

Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky — who says he was “betrayed” by Abramovich following an oil firm deal and is claiming billions of pounds in compensation — said the billionaire Russian businessman was “good at getting people to like him” and “good at psychology”.

Berezovsky, 65, says Abramovich “intimidated” him into selling shares in Russian oil company Sibneft at a fraction of their value.

He is claiming more than £3 billion (€3.4bn) in damages from Abramovich — and alleging breach of trust and breach of contract — in a trial in the Commercial Court in London.

Abramovich, 44, denies the allegations, disputes that “oral agreements” were made and denies Berezovsky is entitled to damages.

Berezovsky yesterday started giving evidence to judge Mrs Justice Gloster as the trial, expected to last more than two months, entered its fourth day.

Abramovich watched from the public gallery.

“He ( Abramovich) is good at getting people to like him and good at psychology in that way,” said Berezovsky in a written witness statement given to the judge.

“He is good at appearing to be humble. He is happy to spend days just socialising with important or powerful people if that is what is needed so he can get closer to them.”

Berezovsky said he met Abramovich on a cruise on a private yacht in the Caribbean in 1994 and was “very impressed’.

“I formed a very favourable view of him,” said Berezovsky in his written statement. “He was a very charming person.”

Berezovsky said he was a “leading” Russian businessman when they met but Abramovich was “in the early stages of his business career” and had “not made any serious money”.

He said he came to regard Abramovich as “my protege, as the next generation”.

Berezovsky said they discussed the creation of Sibneft and were “50:50” partners.

The plan was to combine two Russian oil firms into a single company which could be “privatised into our control”.

He said each had “respective roles”. He would conduct “all high-level discussions in order to persuade” president Boris Yeltsin’s government to create the new company.

Abramovich would co-ordinate “his contacts in the oil sector”.

“This agreement was very generous to Abramovich because Sibneft would never have been established and included in the privatisation programme without my connections with president Yeltsin and the Government,” said Berezovsky.

“I believe if it had not been for the considerable effort I put into the Sibneft project and the considerable political capital I expended it would never have come to fruition,” Berezovsky said in his statement.

He added: “My input was decisive in the creation of Sibneft.”

Berezovsky said that Abramovich “insisted that our agreement should not be written down” and “such oral agreements were simply common practice at that time between Russians in Russia”.

The case continues.