I learned about existence of British law company Carter-Ruck two years ago at performance in “Colour of Night” club on Bolshoy Kozikhinsky side-street. They have such format – invite the interesting person (it is not about me) to informal benefit performance. Give the announcement, people reserve tables, and then "the interesting person" answers the questions.
I thought it would be wrong to neglect participation in a talk-show where Dmitry Bykov, Xenia Sobchak, Chulpan Khamatova, Karen Shakhnazarov and many other reputable people took part. That evening for several hours on a podium I took the rap for Forbes magazine, though long time ago I asked Steve Forbes to stop nonprofessionally count money in another person's pockets and cut out me from the foolish list.
The audience occurred to be quite nice. They talked generally about social causes – blessing it was November 2011th, in a day or two elections for State Duma. Naturally, Polonsky story got out, about a guy who two months before made harmless fall from a chair having stumbled over my hand, causing damage to his jeans.
In a while a girl swept out from the twilight and posing with an air of a provincial model pretentiously handed a certain package to me. It was in this way:
Here we need to do some explanations. After a heart-breaking scene in studio of NTV TV-company, which took place on September 16, 2011, "the attempted murder victim" had been refusing to go to the law enforcement agencies for a long time. Actually, there was no reason for appeal - the torn jeans and black and blue on "a back trochanter", put on paper four (!) days after the incident, do not form the "penal act". OK, he must pile a lawsuit with a magistrate judge – private accusation. Originally he even appealed to the president, the prime minister and the patriarch of Moscow to get advice (someone put him up to it, didn’t he).
The addressees kept silence. V. Putin, at that time the prime minister, jokingly said a word that it was supposedly "hooliganism". After this word the lawyer Dobrovinsky promptly inflamed and ran to "the affected person" with an offer to better his awkward situation by way of bullying and then receiving from me "the tidy sum of portraits of the president". Not Russian, American.
The Dobrovinsky scheme was simple. The Investigation Committee represented by keen walker in the woods Bastrykin opens a criminal case in Russia. At the same time in England there will be filed a lawsuit with claim to compensate the damage of "business reputation" in the amount of 10 million pounds sterling. According to intention of extortionists after that the "object", being imposed from all sides, will be compelled to pay off. Frank blackmail, nothing personal.
At the start the gangsters get on not bad. The Investigation Committee really initiated criminal proceedings under the article about hooliganism based on political hatred which could bring me to face 5 years imprisonment. “Russian state against citizen Lebedev!”. This caused a Homeric laughter among professional lawyers (I was, however, in no laughing mood): what "political hatred" could appear to an individual whom I saw for the first time in my life and with whom during the program and prior to the input to "wipe nose" didn't talk at all? But then Dobrovinsky (he is Kusikov, he is Ayvazyants – the man changed surnames many times) – is not a lawyer and not an attorney. He is gangster flashman and a professional cheat and in this capacity initiated a claim in London. For this purpose the British law company Carter-Ruck was contracted.
Then there happened my meeting with the "victim" and his lawyers where they demanded 5 million Euro for "settlement" of the issue in Investigation Committee of Russia and in the High Court of London. Here are the corresponding instructions to Dobrovinsky from Polonsky:
It turns out that the solicitors from Carter-Ruck were Dobrovinsky’s blackmail partners (to be more exact – accessories) on extortion from me this money. Well-known office, which held legal proceedings with public figures. For example, there was a process with the satirical almanac Pivate Eye. The company claimed the fact that in magazine its name was written as Carter-Fuck. In reply to a claim the editor-in-chief of Private Eye suggested the word Carter to write too through "F".
It is considered among the British journalists as some kind of recognition to receive the claim from Carter-Ruck. The opportunity of claim from Polonsky was hardly serious as this gentleman had no "business reputation" in England, his human shape was far from an ideal, and it’s hard to find honour and dignity in him. However, the intention of the swindlers was not to win the proceedings, but to bring the victim a lot of trouble and to compel him to pay compensation.
Delivery of documents to the respondent – a standard stage of the British legal proceedings. The court in London doesn't accept the claim until the respondent is properly notified (for this reason the gone Berezovsky chased several years for Abramovich, unless found him in Hermes shop). In my case it happened in "Color of Night". I don't understand, why they arranged cheap performance – after all I didn’t go into hiding from anyone and didn't refuse to meet Polonsky in court. Such performances were several, and each time representatives of Carter-Ruck said that "Lebedev avoids justice". The last time I was handed over the claim (writ) during my public lecture held in Chatham House in London about global corruption.
Such decor is needed to show the "client" that the office earns it’s keep. The prices of this keep, meanwhile, are fabulous. I have employed lawyers (what should I do?). In two years I spent some tens of thousands of pounds sterling. Guys from Carter-Ruck took from Polonsky not less.
The most interesting question: and what kind of money are these which have been accepted as the fee in Carter-Ruck? Polonsky has been put on the Interpol's wanted list for fraud with money which he "took away" from shareholders of "Kutuzovsky mile". In other words the money which he pays – are "dirty". In Britain they are called as illegal proceeds, the lawyers are forbidden to accept payment in case when there are suspicions that it has a criminal origin.
Perhaps, this plot will interest Scotland Yard? Law society? Regulators in the sphere of lawyer services? We are preparing the corresponding application.
The campaign of extortion and criminal repressions has been running on for two years. In parallel there was an unprecedented campaign of slander in Internet. It cost million dollars, by "under-the-counter cash". Who paid it? The same Dobrovinsky-Polonsky? Whip fund of objects of my investigations (Luzhkov and Co, Borodin, Pugachev, Alyoshin, Ivaschenko, Gitelson, Romanov, Klyuyev and etc.)
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