‘Kremlin’s banker’ Sergei Pugachyov sues Russia for £15bn

Sergei Pugachyov, once know as the  Kremlin’s banker, is suing Russia for $15bn over what he describes as the state’s illegal appropriation of his assets. Once a senator in Russia’s upper house of parliament, Pugachyov fled Russia for London in 2011 after a criminal investigation was opened in 2010 over the collapse of Russian bank Mezhprombank, which he co-owned.
Investigators alleged that Pugachyov created a $2b shortfall by siphoning off bailout money that the state gave the bank in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008-09. For his part, Pugachyov claims that  the shortfall was caused by the expropriation of his businesses, including the forced fire sale of shipyards worth billions of dollars to the massive state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation.