Oligarchs make peace in £1bn business deal feud

FEUDING Ukrainian oligarchs who began what promised to be one of the most expensive court cases in English legal history over a disputed business deal have reached an out-of-court settlement.

Victor Pinchuk, a businessman who counts Tony Blair among his friends, made the $2 billion (£1.4 billion) claim against two other oligarchs over the purchase of a mining company in Ukraine in 2004.

A spokesman for Mr Pinchuk said yesterday that the case had been settled, three days before it was due to go before the High Court. No details of the settlement were made public.

The central issue of the case was Mr Pinchuk’s claim that he brokered a deal with his former business partners, Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov, to buy KZhRK, a former nationalised industry, on his behalf but the two men did not deliver on the agreement.

Allegations were made in a preliminary hearing last month that Mr Kolomoisky was involved a series of murders and beatings in relation to a previous deal. Lawyers for Mr Pinchuk argued that they should be allowed to introduce evidence about how Mr Kolomoisky made threats of violence to a business contact.

Testimony from a Ukrainian lawyer, Sergei Karpenko, claimed Mr Kolomoisky threatened him at a meeting in 2003. The following month Mr Karpenko was attacked with an iron bar and stabbed, the court heard.

Both the alleged attackers were linked to Mr Kolomoisky and both were later found dead.

Mr Kolomoisky “strenuously denies” the claims of any illegal activities.