This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
Shares in the Sistema holding company controlled and managed by billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov fell through the floor yesterday after his arrest for money-laundering.
Mr Yevtushenkov, whose assets are valued at $9 billion (£5.5bn) according to the Russian Forbes magazine, was placed under house arrest late on Tuesday. Shares in Sistema collapsed by 38 per cent in Moscow, cutting the company’s market capitalisation by over $2.5 billion (£1.53bn) in less than a day.
Trading in the shares was temporarily suspended earlier due to the heavy losses.
Sistema controls Russia’s largest mobile phone operator MTS and oil company Bashneft as well as other lucrative assets.
The Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, a group that unites Russia’s richest men, begged for Mr Yevtushenkov’s release on bail.
His supporters suggest that he is being victimised by President Vladimir Putin.
