LONDON, October 27 — RAPSI. Exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky looked for reliable individuals to finish his lawsuit against Roman Abramovich as he was anxious for his life in late 2009, Michael Lindley, a witness for Berezovsky, said at the hearing on Thursday.

The court began hearing Berezovsky’s $5.5 billion lawsuit against Abramovich on October 3. Berezovsky seeks compensation for assets he was forced to sell to Abramovich between 2000 and 2003. Berezovsky claims in his lawsuit that Abramovich intimidated him and his business partner Badri Patarkatsishvili into selling a number of assets, including a 43-percent interest in the Sibneft oil company and a stake in the Rusal aluminum group, at a fraction of their value.

Last week, Lindley’s wife Natalia Nosova, who was Berezovsky's deputy general director at his LogoVAZ car dealership, confirmed to the court that she and her husband were promised one percent of the recoveries in the lawsuit if Berezovsky won the case. Additionally, she said she promised to help Berezovsky’s family to recover his assets in case of his death.