Latest news with #oligarch
Washington Post
22-07-2025
- Washington Post
Fugitive Moldovan oligarch implicated in $1 billion bank fraud detained in Greece
CHISINAU, Moldova — A fugitive Moldovan oligarch implicated in a $1 billion bank fraud and other illicit schemes was detained Tuesday in Greece, Moldova's national police said. Vladimir Plahotniuc fled Moldova in 2019 as he faced a series of corruption charges including allegations of complicity in a scheme that led to $1 billion disappearing from a Moldovan bank in 2014, which at the time was equivalent to about an eighth of Moldova's annual GDP.
Daily Mail
07-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Miner Ferrexpo sees iron ore output plummet after Ukraine suspends VAT refunds
Ferrexpo has reported a massive slump in iron ore production following the Ukrainian Government's decision to suspend tax refunds for the firm. The mining company delivered 1.3 million tonnes of iron ore during the quarter ending March, compared to 2.1 million in the previous quarter, which was the highest amount since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Meanwhile, the Swiss-headquartered group's pellet output plunged by 39 per cent from more than 1.3 million tonnes to 821,882 tonnes. Ferrexpo has been forced to downsize its operations to one pelletising line and to reduce the production of high-grade concentrate due to the halting of VAT refunds and their negative impact on liquidity levels. The suspension follows sanctions imposed by President Volodomyr Zelensky on the oligarch Kostiantyn Zhevago, who controls a 49.5 per cent stake in Ferrexpo and was once dubbed 'Europe's youngest self-made billionaire'. Zhevago has been accused of embezzling funds from Finance & Credit Bank, which collapsed in 2015. He has denied all allegations. Ukraine's government attempted, but failed, to seize his stake in Ferrexpo's Poltava mine through the courts in 2023. In March, the Daily Mail reported that Ferrexpo would initiate international arbitration proceedings if Ukraine part-nationalised the site, which is Ferrexpo's largest iron ore mine. 'All efforts and representations are underway with the respective authorities and government bodies in Ukraine and internationally to try to resolve the VAT refund suspension,' said Lucio Genovese, interim executive chair of Ferrexpo. Ferrexpo noted on Monday that demand for its high-grade low-alumina concentrate from customers in China continued to be strong. The group's annual production volumes remain far below pre-2022 volumes due to the conflict in Ukraine disrupting export operations and many employees serving in the country's armed forces. Mark Crouch, market analyst for eToro, said: 'Ferrexpo has long been navigating treacherous terrain, but the war in Ukraine has brought unprecedented disruption.' However, he added: 'It's worth remembering that Ferrexpo has weathered severe downturns before. 'The company's shares have traded at significantly lower levels during prior crises, such as the 2008 financial meltdown and the 2015 commodities rout. 'For long-term investors with a high-risk appetite, this may be seen not as a crisis, but as yet another turbulent chapter in Ferrexpo's volatile history.' Ferrexpo shares were 0.7 per cent higher at 49.1p on late Monday afternoon, taking their losses to around 55 per cent since the year began.
Daily Mail
06-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Billionaire oligarch's lover is thrown out of her home with her kids while a sports presenter hits back at 'horrific' criticism about her weight: RICHARD EDEN'S DIARY
As the girlfriend of Russian oligarch Sergei Pugachev, Alexandra Tolstoy lived a billionaire's lifestyle, enjoying a multi-million-pound home in Chelsea, a chateau on the French Riviera and a beachfront house in St Barts. Now single, however, the socialite, 51, has been left shocked and distressed after being suddenly evicted from her home in Battersea, south London, along with her three children.
Times
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Jonathan Lynn: ‘People are running the country who have never had a proper job'
T here is nothing so ex as an ex prime minister. It has been a long time since Jim Hacker rose to the top of the greasy pole. Now in his eighties he is a sad and diminished figure, leaky in mind and bladder, increasingly forgotten by an ungrateful nation. The fellows of the Oxford college that bears his name, thanks to an oligarch's endowment, want to remove him as their master, them having a different understanding to the Lords of what 'job for life' means, and in desperation he calls an old friend. Alas, Bernard Woolley can't come to the phone — Hacker forgot that he had attended his funeral — and so he turns to an old adversary. Can the man who became PM
