LONDON, October 7 - RAPSI. Boris Berezovsky, a Russian billionaire who currently lives in the UK, failed to clearly explain his deals with Sibneft oil company in the end of the first day of his testimony over the lawsuit against his former business partner Roman Abramovich, RIA Novosti and the Russian Legal Information Agency reports.
Berezovsky told the defendantss lawyer that he got wrong everything Berezovsky had said during a five-hour questioning in the High Court of Justice in London.
The court started hearing Berezovsky's $5.5 billion lawsuit against Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich on October 3. Berezovsky seeks a compensation for a number assets he was forced to sell to Mr. 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 Sibneft, a major Russian oil company, and a stake in the aluminum group Rusal, at a fraction of their value.
Jonathan Sumption, QC for Abramovich, tried to sum up Berezovsky's testimony in the end of the hearing. However, Berezovsky responded that "everything was absolutely wrong," his words caused a lot of raised eyebrows as the lawyer told exactly the same as Berezovsky pursued during a five-hour examination.
Sumption will continue to question Berezovsky on Friday. The hearing is set to start at 9 a.m. (12.00 a.m. Moscow time).