Hermitage Capital insists on legality of Gazprom stock purchases
MOSCOW. March 5 (Interfax) - Investment fund Hermitage Capital insists that it purchased Gazprom shares legally.
"All of the operations to acquire Gazprom shares were carried out in strict accordance with the law. The procedure itself passed an evaluation by the Securities Commission, which confirmed its compliance with the law. Accusations that this somehow caused damage to the company are simply absurd," Hermitage said in a press release distributed in Moscow on Tuesday.
Hermitage has connected charges brought against its CEO William Browder with the U.S. adoption of the Magnitsky Act.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian Interior Ministry announced that a criminal case had been filed against Browder for illegally purchasing over 131 million Gazprom shares. According to the investigation, Browder's actions caused around 3 billion rubles in damage to Russia. Charges of large-scale fraud will soon be brought against Browder, the ministry said.