Китай может выделить $20 млрд российским нефтехимическим компаниям
Российский фонд прямых инвестиций (РФПИ) планирует при помощи создаваемой с китайской стороной долговой платформы привлечь около $20 млрд для российских компаний на реализацию проектов в нефтехимической и алмазодобывающей отраслях, передает ТАСС со ссылкой на заявление главы РФПИ Кирилла Дмитриева по итогам подписания ряда соглашений с китайскими партнерами.
Данные средства планируется привлечь в течение трех лет.
Российская и китайская стороны планируют создать платформу для финансирования российских компаний китайскими банками, а также подпишут соглашение о создании Российско-китайского инвестиционного банка.
Китай может инвестировать в скоростную магистраль Москва — Казань 104 млрд рублей
Инвестиции Китая в высокоскоростную магистраль «Москва — Казань» составят 104 млрд руб. в случае подписания меморандума, сообщает «Интерфакс» со ссылкой на осведомленный источник.
«Меморандум, который, как ожидается, будет подписан сегодня между Минтранспорта России и Государственным комитетом КНР по развитию и реформе, а также РЖД, предусматривает инвестиции китайской стороны в высокоскоростную магистраль «Москва — Казань» в сумме 104 млрд руб.», — рассказал представитель группы, участвующей в подготовке проекта меморандума.
Вместе с тем российская и китайская стороны пока официально не комментируют возможный объем участия китайской стороны в проекте.
Создание совместной энергетической компании с участием России, ЕС и Украины стало бы основой для мирного урегулирования на Украине. С таким предложением выступил бывший премьер- министр Италии и экс-глава Еврокомисии Романо Проди.
"Я сделал совершенно конкретное предложение, которое, убежден, устраивает Россию, Европу и Украину. А именно о создании совместной энергетической компании, которой 1/3 принадлежала бы России, 1/3 – европейская часть, 1/3 – украинская. Только так можно достигнуть мира – путем конкретных предложений", – сказал Проди в эксклюзивном интервью ТАСС.
Он сообщил, что уже обсуждал эту идею лидерам заинтересованных стран, включая Россию и Германию. "Я свое предложение излагал всем заинтересованным сторонам, и в частном порядке все (Ангела Меркель, Владимир Путин) согласились", – отметил он.
При этом Проди выразил разочарование тем, какого "абсурдного уровня" достигла политическая напряженность. "Сейчас стали преобладать разногласия (между РФ и ЕС) почти как в прошлом", – отметил политик.
"Мое предложение предельно просто. В интересах России продавать энергоносители, мы заинтересованы покупать энергоносители, а Украине нужны гарантии беспрепятственного транзита. И я убежден, что такое решение послужило бы миру и созданию атмосферы сотрудничества", – сказал Романо Проди.
В отношении внутриукраинского урегулирования бывший итальянский премьер видит решение в сильной децентрализации государства и передаче статуса автономии юго-восточным районам. "И у нас есть уже пример – Альто-Адидже (итальянская автономия, бывший Южный Тироль, где около 70% населения говорят по-немецки – прим. корр.). Это – функциональная модель. Главное, чтобы Украина перестала быть полем боя, она должна быть мостом", – подчеркнул Проди.
ЦБ: международные резервы РФ за неделю выросли на $5 млрд до $358,5 млрд
Экономика и бизнес
7 мая, 15:13 UTC+3
Международные резервы РФ состоят из средств в иностранной валюте, специальных прав заимствования (СДР), резервной позиции в МВФ и монетарного золота
МОСКВА, 7 мая. /ТАСС/. Международные резервы России за неделю с 24 апреля по 1 мая 2015 года выросли на $5 млрд до $358,5 млрд, сообщил Банк России.
Международные резервы РФ, представляющие собой высоколиквидные иностранные активы, имеющиеся в распоряжении Банка России и правительства РФ, состоят из средств в иностранной валюте, специальных прав заимствования (СДР), резервной позиции в МВФ и монетарного золота.
Претенциите на германците обаче може и да не бъдат удовлетворени, защото ЕЦБ е овластена да отговаря директно за всички банки с активи над 30 млрд. евро и/или са над 20% от националния БВП. Докато към края на 2013-а (последните налични официални статистически данни) активите на "Ландескредитбанк Баден-Вюртемберг" са били около 70 млрд. евро. Това обстоятелство пък принуди други по-дребни германски кредитори да вземат мерки, за да не попаднат под надзора на ЕЦБ. Например, държавната "Кредитанщалт фюр Вийдерауфбау" пое дейността на поделението си за проектно и търговско финансиране KfW Ipex-Bank, което първоначално бе вкарано под надзора на ЕЦБ. По този начин активите му паднаха под 30 млрд. евро и то отпадна от списъка за централизиран контрол.
BNP’s Billion-Dollar Payout Untapped by al-Qaeda Victims
Victims of the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa who came to Manhattan hoping for a piece of a $9 billion forfeiture from BNP Paribas SA instead got a New York welcome. A judge wouldn’t let them speak in court and prosecutors said they still haven’t decided whether victims will get paid.
About 20 victims appeared in Manhattan federal court on Friday as a judge formally ordered France’s largest bank to pay a record $8.97 billion to settle a U.S. criminal case that it violated sanctions by processing transactions involving Sudan, Iran and Cuba. They and others are seeking as much as $2.5 billion.
The victims argue they’re entitled to part of the payout because al-Qaeda exploited illicit financial ties between BNP and Sudanese banks. They’ll leave New York almost empty-handed. U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield said they couldn’t speak in court, and the U.S. lawyers who will decide whether to compensate them announced only that the government had set up a website for victims of terror to seek compensation.
James Ndeda, a Kenyan who suffered a skull fracture in the bombing, said that provides little comfort.
“We put our lives at risk to work for the U.S. government abroad,” Ndeda, 44, said outside the courtroom. “It’s been a struggle. We thought the government would be able to say something today and compensate victims.”
Probation Sentence
The sentencing, in which the judge also ordered BNP to serve five years of probation, marks the conclusion of a case with roots dating to at least 1997. In its guilty plea in July, BNP admitted it conducted transactions on behalf of blacklisted Sudanese banks from 2006 to 2007, eight years after the embassy bombings.
In a statement of facts that accompanied the plea, the bank also said its Geneva office became the primary European bank handling transactions in Sudan starting in 1997, following an executive order from President Bill Clinton instituting sanctions against the country.
Lawyers for the victims say it’s likely that wire transfers BNP facilitated were part of the preparations for the twin bombings in Kenya and Tanzania on Aug. 7, 1998, which killed 224 and injured many others. They want the Justice Department to award them compensation – and hoped to hear the announcement on Friday.
“These people came from Nairobi,” victims’ lawyer Bill Wheeler said after court. “After 17 years of waiting, the government says, ‘We’ll put up a website and think about it for 90 days’?”
Violate Embargoes
According to prosecutors, BNP helped process $6.4 billion in transactions for Sudan, more than $686 million for Iran and $1.75 billion for Cuba. The bank admitted in its guilty plea that it conspired from 2004 to 2012 to violate embargoes imposed on the three nations designated by the U.S. as state-sponsors of terrorism. The penalty was agreed to and made public at that time.
“BNP Paribas played a primary role in that conspiracy, with senior officials at the bank willing to employ elaborate and sophisticated techniques to enable the conspiracy to succeed,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Goldstein said in court in July. “Senior officials at the bank knew about the illicit transactions and allowed them to continue.”
The probation ruling will require the bank to enhance its compliance practices and cooperate fully with the U.S. government. Since last year, BNP’s actions have been supervised by a government-appointed monitor.
Paid Billions
“In the past 10 months, the organization has taken many steps to strengthen compliance,” Georges Dirani, BNP’s top lawyer, told the judge on Friday.
The bank has already paid billions of dollars to the Manhattan District Attorney, the Federal Reserve and New York’s Department of Financial Services as part of related cases. Because those payments will be credited against BNP’s fine in the U.S. case, BNP paid $3.8 billion to the Justice Department.
The decision on whether to pay the victims rests with Loretta Lynch, who was sworn in as U.S. Attorney General on Monday. In court, there was no legal argument on the compensation issue, and Schofield didn’t permit the victims to speak while adding that “they have other means for recourse.”
The new website can be used by all victims of terrorism sponsored by Sudan, Iran and Cuba from 2004 to 2012. Victims of the bombings have until July 30 to submit a claim.
Doreen Oport, 50, who worked at the Nairobi embassy and suffered injuries to her back, came to court wanting a resolution.
“They’re telling us to go to a cloud and put in our claims on a website. It’s not enough,” she said afterward. “We are going to have to relive our injuries again by telling our stories yet again in these claims.”
The case is U.S. v. BNP Paribas, 14-cr-0460, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
Mixed Verdicts in Second Trial of Aleynikov, Ex-Goldman Sachs Programmer
By MATTHEW GOLDSTEIN and BEN PROTESSMAY 1, 2015
For the second time in five years, prosecutors have prevailed over Sergey Aleynikov, the former Goldman Sachs programmer accused of stealing confidential computer trading code from the bank. The first time it took a federal jury just hours to convict; this time it came after more than a week of deliberation and an accusation of “food poisoning” and avocado tampering in a state court jury room.
A jury on Friday convicted Mr. Aleynikov on one count he faced but acquitted him on another and deadlocked on a third. Mr. Aleynikov, who is unlikely to face much if any prison time, cracked a nervous smile after the decision was announced.
The split verdict — a striking conclusion to a case that divided the legal world, inspired a best-selling book and spotlighted the secret formulas behind high-frequency trading on Wall Street — came after the case nearly ended in what would have been the most bizarre of mistrials.
The possible mistrial stemmed from a dispute between two jurors deciding Mr. Aleynikov’s fate; a female juror accused a male one of “food tampering,” in part because an avocado was missing from her sandwich. The female juror also said she took a blood test to determine whether she had been poisoned, temporarily turning the criminal proceedings into a culinary whodunit.
Timeline: High Frequency Trading Trial
July 2009 Sergey Aleynikov, a former Goldman Sachs programmer, is arrested and accused of stealing software code that could be used to “unfairly manipulate” stock prices.
December 2010 Mr. Aleynikov is found guilty of stealing proprietary code. Such computer code earned Goldman about $300 million in 2009.
March 2011 Mr. Aleynikov is sentenced to more than eight years in prison. “I never meant to cause Goldman any harm,” the Russian-born programmer said.
February 2012 A federal appeals court reverses the conviction, ruling that prosecutors misapplied the federal corporate espionage laws.
August 2012 Mr. Aleynikov is arrested again and charged in state court. His lawyer accuses prosecutors of violating double jeopardy.
September 2013 The new charges draw an outcry in defense circles. Mr. Aleynikov is the subject of a sympathetic profile by Michael Lewis in Vanity Fair.
But the judge overseeing the case, Justice Daniel P. Conviser of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, called her accusations “completely unfounded.” And after he dismissed the feuding jurors — and Mr. Aleynikov’s lawyer, Kevin Marino, dropped his request for a mistrial — both sides agreed to continue with a 10-member jury.
Their verdict, a partial victory for the Manhattan district attorney’s office in one of its most prominent financial cases in recent memory, raised questions about Mr. Aleynikov’s decision to roll the dice with the smaller jury. He could have objected to the remaining jurors, which would have either prompted a mistrial or laid the groundwork for an appeal. According to people close to the case who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Mr. Marino and even some prosecutors suspected that the 10 jurors were prepared to acquit.
In an interview with reporters on Friday, Mr. Marino explained that “we took the longer view,” avoiding yet another trial and hoping that the jury would acquit, noting that it did on one count.
In any other case, a conviction after near mistrial by food fight might seem like a plot twist that only Hollywood could dream up. But in the on-again-off-again legal odyssey that is the People v. Aleynikov, it was merely the latest in a long line of peculiar episodes.
Mr. Aleynikov, a 45-year-old former Goldman software programmer who was born in Russia and is now also a citizen of the United States, was first arrested on July 3, 2009. His first conviction was overturned in 2012 by an appeals court, which ruled that federal prosecutors in the case had misapplied the corporate espionage laws against him.
But Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, took up the case anew and eventually charged Mr. Aleynikov under state laws, drawing an outcry from defense lawyers, who complained about prosecutorial overkill. Then, a state judge tossed out much of the prosecution’s evidence, ruling that the F.B.I. had conducted an “illegal arrest” of Mr. Aleynikov.
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Mr. Aleynikov, who lost his job and marriage in the fallout from the case, has become something of a cause célèbre in legal and media circles. Michael Lewis wrote a sympathetic profile of Mr. Aleynikov in Vanity Fair and later adapted the article into the best-selling book “Flash Boys” about high-frequency trading.
For Mr. Aleynikov, who rejected a plea deal that would have spared him prison time, the verdict is a blow but not a dead end.
Justice Conviser has expressed some skepticism about the case and left open the possibility that he might throw out the conviction, a rare step that takes place when a judge concludes that a verdict is legally invalid. His decision is expected in about five weeks.
And even if the conviction stands, Justice Conviser signaled on Friday that he was unlikely to send Mr. Aleynikov to prison, telling prosecutors that he was lifting Mr. Aleynikov’s $35,000 bail. Mr. Marino is likely to emphasize that Mr. Aleynikov already served a year in federal prison before the appeals court vacated his conviction.
The thrust of the case against Mr. Aleynikov, a bespectacled computer whiz who cuts a gaunt figure in the shadow of Mr. Marino’s football-player build, did not change from federal to state court. In the state case, Mr. Aleynikov was indicted on two counts of unlawful use of secret scientific material and one count of unlawful duplication of computer-related material.
Authorities focused on Mr. Aleynikov’s decision to download proprietary Goldman source code before leaving the bank for a high-frequency trading firm in Chicago. To cover his tracks, Mr. Aleynikov tried to delete the history of commands on his Goldman computer.
Mr. Marino did not challenge the underlying facts. Instead, he said they added up to a simple breach of Goldman’s confidentiality policy.
“There’s no doubt Mr. Aleynikov did something wrong,” he told the jury, stopping occasionally to sip from a water bottle he clutched throughout his closing statement. “But this is a very badly misguided case.”
A skilled orator with a booming voice and a knack for hyperbole, Mr. Marino once shouted in open court that the case against Mr. Aleynikov was “a wild thing,” saying that prosecutors failed to establish the basic elements of the crimes they charged.
That argument appeared to resonate with at least some of the jurors. At times during the deliberations, which began on April 22, the jurors seemed baffled by the charge of unlawful use of secret scientific material, a decades-old criminal statute that predates the digital age. The panel sent more than a dozen notes to Justice Conviser seeking clarity on the meaning of the law.
Mr. Marino said the jury’s decision to convict Mr. Aleynikov on one count of violating that law, and then deadlock on another count involving the same law, illustrated the jurors’ confusion. They found Mr. Aleynikov not guilty of the unlawful-duplication charge.
Mr. Marino argued during the trial that Mr. Aleynikov did not acquire a “major portion” of the economic value of the code, an element that the prosecution needed to prove. Mr. Marino also emphasized that Mr. Aleynikov did not make a “tangible” reproduction of the files, another requirement for proving unlawful use of secret scientific material.
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“Can you taste it?” Mr. Marino asked an F.B.I. agent who arrested Mr. Aleynikov. “I don’t think so,” the agent replied.
Over the course of the trial, Mr. Marino and his client benefited from some favorable judicial rulings.
At the onset, Justice Conviser refused the prosecution’s request to delay the start for several weeks. Weeks later, the judge ruled that prosecutors could not call an expert witness because they had failed to provide Mr. Marino adequate time to prepare.
Daniel Holmes, a Manhattan assistant district attorney, made up some of that lost ground with a compelling closing argument. In the nearly 90-minute address, delivered to a courtroom packed with spectators, Mr. Holmes implored the jurors to use their “common sense.”
Despite the long deliberations, signs of juror tension did not emerge until this week. And even now, the exact nature of the avocado dispute remains a mystery.
On Monday, when the avocado dispute occurred, the jurors ordered lunch from Mon Cher market, which charges a dollar extra for avocado on sandwiches. Later in the week, jurors were on their own for lunch. But by Thursday, they were back to ordering from Mon Cher.
Correction: May 1, 2015
An earlier version of a photo caption with this article misstated the surname of Sergey Aleynikov’s lawyer. He is Kevin Marino, not Marion.
Goldman Sachs’ reported spending on EU lobbying rises 14-fold
Duncan Robinson in Brussels and Tom Braithwaite in New York
Goldman Sachs has revealed a 14-fold increase in the amount it says it spends on lobbying in Brussels after the EU strengthened its disclosure rules.
The US investment bank spent between €700,000 and €799,000 on lobbying in Brussels in 2014, according to its entry in the European Commission’s transparency register. This compares with the estimated €50,000 it says it spent in 2013 on lobbying in Brussels.
The rules also sparked a sharp increase in the lobbying expenses reported by UBS. The Swiss bank’s spending jumped from less than €100,000 in 2013 to €1.7m in 2014.
The increased figures follow the introduction of tougher rules that banned commission officials from meeting companies unless they were on the institution’s transparency register by December 1. Goldman joined the register at the end of November.
New rules also require companies to include a proportion of trade association fees in their lobbying spending disclosures, said a person familiar with the matter.
These rules have also been followed by sharp increases in the spending reported by other financial services companies. Deutsche Bank said it spent almost €2m lobbying EU institutions in 2013, rising to €4m in 2014, according to its latest filing.
Goldman’s opening of a new office in Brussels last autumn also affected the disclosure, although the bank had decided to join the register before then, say those familiar with the matter.
Its outlay in Brussels compares with the $3.4m it said it spent lobbying the US government in Washington last year. That number has changed little in the past three years, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, but is down from a record $4.6m in 2010 when Goldman was under fire in the US Congress for its pre-crisis activities.
Goldman’s filings with the US Congress say it employed nine external law firms and lobbying groups as well as eight in-house lobbyists, including Michael Paese, a former aide to the House financial services committee.
The spending is a little less than comparable financial services companies. Morgan Stanley shelled out $4.8m last year and JPMorgan Chase $6.3m.
But the monetary totals are an inexact measure of lobbying. Goldman’s influence in Washington has been scrutinised for several years because there is a long history of officials and Goldman bankers going through the so-called revolving door between the two worlds.
Lobbying rules in Brussels were until recently relatively loose, leading campaigners to argue that some large companies were underplaying their efforts to affect rulemaking.
Campaigners from LobbyControl, Corporate Europe Observatory and Friends of the Earth Europe complained to regulators this year that Goldman had lowballed its 2013 estimate.
Vicky Cann, campaigner for Corporate Europe Observatory, said: “Goldman Sachs’ former lobby register entry made it look like a bit player. In fact it has been active in EU lobbying for years, with access to the commission that other lobbyists could only dream of.”
Although Goldman employs several government affairs staff, some of whom earn millions of dollars, the bank accounts only for the proportion of their time spent lobbying, as defined as narrowly as the rules allow. In the US, this means that John Rogers, Goldman’s secretary, who is deeply involved in government affairs, is not listed as a lobbyist.
Sweden’s corporate jet scandal claims fresh victim
David Crouch in Gothenburg
Sweden’s corporate world was thrown into renewed turmoil on Monday when the head of one of its most powerful business empires was summarily sacked following a scandal over the private use of corporate jets by executives.
In a morning of high drama, leading shareholders announced they “do not consider it appropriate” for Anders Nyrén to lead Industrivärden, a huge investor with controlling stakes in companies such as Volvo, Handelsbanken and Ericsson.
“The board has . . . decided that, with effect from May 6 2015, it is dismissing Nyrén as CEO and terminating his employment by Industrivärden,” the investment house said in a statement.
The main instigators of Mr Nyrén’s dismissal, described as a “palace coup” by Sweden’s leading business newspaper, emerged as being Fredrik Lundberg, a Swedish industrialist and one of the country’s wealthiest men, and Pär Boman, chairman of Handelsbanken, a major bank.
As “the main shareholders in Industrivärden”, Handlesbanken and Mr Lundberg’s investment company Lundbergföretagen declared on Monday they had withdrawn their support for Mr Nyrén.
Mr Lundberg told the Financial Times that he and Mr Boman shared “many” concerns about Mr Nyrén’s position at Industrievärden, beyond the private jets scandal and the company’s performance. The decision to sack him was backed by all the main shareholders, representing about 70 per cent of votes, he said, and big Swedish institutions had told him they were “all for it”.
“We have handled it in the proper way,” he said. “It is very important for the shareholders that we get the right board that can generate value and give confidence.”
He added that he had no concerns that Industrivärden’s relations with Volvo and Ericsson, where Mr Nyrén holds board positions, could now be at risk. “Anders Nyrén is suited to these boards, and as far as I know he is highly appreciated as a board member,” Mr Lundberg said.
Mr Boman took over from Mr Nyrén as chairman of Handelsbanken in January. At the same time as he became chairman of SCA, a paper and forestry company in which Industrivärden and Handelsbanken has a large stake, with a brief to clean up after the private jet scandal, which erupted after it was revealed that wives, children and even pets of executives accompanied directors on business trips abroad as well as to a hunting lodge owned by SCA. The flights included trips to a company hunting lodge, Formula One races, the World Cup and the Olympics.
Industrivärden’s current chairman, Sverker Martin-Löf, announced his resignation in February, and was due to be replaced by Mr Nyrén at Industrivärden’s annual meeting in May. After Mr Nyrén’s ousting, however, Mr Lundberg now becomes chairman.
Mr Martin-Löf described Mr Nyrén’s ouster as “a coup-like seizure of power by Lundberg’s side” in remarks to Swedish media.
Mr Nyrén becomes the eighth top Swedish executive to lose his job over the SCA scandal and the biggest corporate figure to be brought down by the crisis of boardroom confidence that has shaken faith in the Swedish model of active ownership, under which shareholders nominate board directors and help guide companies’ strategies.
The scandal also exposed a convoluted system of cross-ownership in which executives sat on many boards and approved each others’ expenses.
Mr Nyrén had served as Industrivärden chief executive since 2001. At SCA’s AGM earlier this month, he defended Mr Martin-Löf, who was forced to quit as SCA chairman. He argued that there was a “great” culture at SCA and Industrivärden; what was wrong was the “perception” of that culture, he said, according to media reports of the meeting.
However, SCA shareholders objected that Mr Nyrén had shown a “lack of judgment” when he approved the use of the company’s corporate jet by executives’ family members, including Mr Martin-Löf.
According to Svenska Dagbladet, the paper that led the revelations, Mr Boman has brought in a team of more than 500 accountants to review business practices at SCA.
Mr Nyrén leaves Industrivärden with two years’ salary. He is replaced by Bengt Kjell, a former deputy chief executive. Mr Nyrén will also quit the boards of Handelsbanken, SCA and Sandvik, but retains his positions at Volvo Group and Ericsson.
In a statement on Monday Afternoon, Mr Nyrén said: “After contact with the boards of Volvo and Ericsson have I been asked to remain as a member of the respective boards, which I have accepted.”
We hope for a new beginning in the company. There are good prospects that Industrivärden can get back to its former position
– Carl Rosen, president of Sweden’s Shareholders’ Association
Apart from the scandal over corporate perks, Mr Nyrén had faced criticism about the performance of Industrivärden’s equity and that of several of its portfolio companies over the past year.
Industrivärden and the Wallenberg family foundations, Sweden’s two biggest holding companies, together control more than half of the market capitalisation of the Stockholm stock exchange.
Mr Nyrén’s dismissal was welcomed by Sweden’s Shareholders’ Association, which had previously criticised the culture at Industrivärden.
“We hope for a new beginning in the company. There are good prospects that Industrivärden can get back to its former position,” said Carl Rosen, the association’s president.
