Dear Supporters

I decided to dedicate today's update to a direct continuation of the story of the bribery of my lawyers from law firm CANDEY by the oligarchs, namely, what conclusions deputy judge Mr Beltrami KC made based on this story. HIS CONCLUSION IS ABSOLUTELY PARADOXICAL - SINCE I EXPOSED THE FACT OF BRIBERY, I DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO CONTINUE THE PROCEEDINGS WITHOUT BRIBED LAWYERS.

So, being left without lawyers due to their bribery by the oligarchs, in accordance with the formal requirements of the legislation, I had to submit a formal application to the court with a request to allow me to continue the proceedings without lawyers. I did not expect that the court could refuse my request, because this is tantamount to a denial of access to justice and looks especially cynical and strange in conditions where the party was left without lawyers due to their bribery by the opponents.

But it was precisely such a strange decision that was made by deputy judge Mr Beltrami KC, who, as I later found out, turned out to be very closely connected with the lawyers of my opponents, who bribed my lawyers. The story of Mr Beltrami KC is one of the most important parts of my petition - I demand that there be an investigation into the circumstances of the appointment of Mr Beltrami KC for this and another hearing (the probability of the randomness of this event is 0.1%), as well as the reasons why he, contrary to the requirements of the Guide to Judicial Conduct, did not disclose to me information about his more than close ties with the lawyers of my opponents.

So, one of the reasons why Mr Beltrami KC denied me the right to continue the proceedings in my personal capacity is that I brought accusations against my former solicitors about their collusion with the oligarchs. This is exactly what Mr Beltrami KC wrote in paragraphs 32-33 of his judgment:

“Those allegations have been made <...> against in some cases the claimants' own solicitors. <…> I see the fact of the allegations as a very strong contrary factor against the application”.

Once again and so that the cynical nature of what happened was extremely clear. The oligarchs bribed my lawyers, and Mr Beltrami KC gave as one of the reasons for refusing me to continue the proceedings without the bribed lawyers that I accused them of this (exposed this corruption story). The scale of the cynicism is staggering.

And now I will quote the words of the main representative of the oligarchs at that hearing about this corruption story. By the way, this person is none other than the representative of Russia as a state in international courts, Mr Swainston KC, who became famous for his statements that Russia had not annexed Crimea and that Ukraine and Western countries had provided fake evidence. The oligarchs, knowing that they have bribed my lawyers and that I exposed it, through the mouth of Mr Swainston cited the fact of exposure as one of the main arguments in support of their request to Mr Beltrami KC to forbid me to act without the corrupted lawyers. So:

“He [me] already uses the press -- for example, he has been talking to Forbes in Russia -- and one can imagine the coverage next time: "Commercial company accuses lawyers and experts of fraud, corruption, etc., in London proceedings". Those involved in proceedings in London should not be exposed to that, nor, with respect, should legal London in its reputation abroad. It does involve extreme risk to the reputations, particularly of clients involved, when this kind of totally unfounded allegation, as we saw with Candey, is put forward through proceedings. The court should not in anyway endorse that by giving Mr. Sychev licence to say it”.

These words are especially funny now, when the investigation has been initiated against CANDEY, and my public petition about this has gained almost 55,000 signatures and similar headlines have appeared in the press. And the funny thing is that CANDEY has shown utter impotence to resist the “extreme risk to the reputation” created by them themselves (and exposed by me) – more about this in the two previous updates (this and this).

THE FACT THAT THE LEGAL SYSTEM OF THE UK ALLOWED PUTIN'S CRONIIES TO CARRY OUT THIS CYNICALLY EGREGIOUS CORRUPTION OPERATION WITH IMPUNITY (AND, MOREOVER, HELPED IN THIS) MEANS, IN MY OPINION, ITS COLLAPSE AND DISGRACE. I THINK THAT THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS IN THE ENTIRE CENTURIES-OLD HISTORY OF ENGLISH JUSTICE.

Many thanks,

Igor Sychev

P.S.: The continuation of this story will follow, I hope, tomorrow, since these are far from all the "oddities" in the judge's decision.