A party in a six-year-old lawsuit over an agreement made in a Moscow restaurant about shares in a Russian fertiliser company has accused two sets of solicitors of taking bribes from, and colluding with, his opponents. In Verlox International Ltd & Anor v Igor Antoshin & Ors, Mr Justice Picken threw out an amendment application brought by exiled Russian businessman Igor Sychev. 

The ruling is the latest step in a series of legal claims surrounding the ownership of PhosAgro, a company once owned by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a prominent critic of Vladimir Putin who is also now in exile.

According to the judgment, the claim began in 2016 when Sychev issued proceedings through his Belize-registered company over what he claimed was an oral agreement made in a Moscow restaurant in 2011. He maintains that PhosAgro and other parties failed to honour an agreement to give him a 1% shareholding in return for assisting the company in its defence against tax claims. 

The judge was ruling on an application by two defendants for security for costs in respect of jurisdiction challenges and an application by Sychev for an amendment to the claim form.

The judge noted: 'In the course of these proceedings, Mr Sychev has engaged four different firms of solicitors, all of which have now come off the record. Mr Sychev has accused his most recent representatives, Candey LLP (as well as their predecessors, Signature Litigation LLP) of taking bribes from, and colluding with, the defendants.'

The judge declined to address the security applications and dismissed the amendment application.

 

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