I ask MPs to consider judicial accountability and possible independent investigation

PRESS RELEASE

UK litigant in person asks MPs to consider judicial accountability and possible independent investigation

31 August 2026

London / Riga — Igor Sychev, a litigant in person in High Court proceedings, has submitted a briefing to Members of the UK Parliament raising questions about judicial openness, impartiality and public confidence in the administration of justice.

The proceedings, CL-2016-000831, involve several wealthy Russian businessmen. One of the Defendants, Andrey Guryev, founder of PhosAgro, has been under UK sanctions since April 2022 and has been described by the UK Government as a known close associate of Vladimir Putin. Mr Guryev is also the owner of Witanhurst, one of London’s most prominent private residences, reportedly worth approximately £500 million.

Mr Sychev has pursued the proceedings without legal representation. He has lived in Europe as a refugee since 2016 following the events underlying the litigation and says that the proceedings have been accompanied by serious threats and demands that he abandon his claims.

The Parliamentary briefing concerns a hearing before Mr Adrian Beltrami KC on 27 May 2022. It does not ask Parliament to intervene in the litigation, overturn a judicial decision or determine whether judicial misconduct occurred.

One of the principal concerns is that Mr Beltrami delivered an eight-page judgment immediately after Mr Sychev’s oral submissions were stopped, while evidence relied upon in his complaint indicates that the judgment had already been prepared before the hearing began. The briefing therefore raises questions about how submissions made at the hearing could have been meaningfully taken into account.

The briefing also raises questions concerning professional and family connections involving Mr Beltrami and Simmons & Simmons, which represented a major Defendant. It states that the firm had repeatedly instructed Mr Beltrami as counsel and that his son was working for the firm at the relevant time, while his daughter had trained there. A 2026 High Court judgment is cited as evidence that the professional relationship remained active.

The briefing further refers to a June 2021 recording in which Mr Bobylev, in the context of an attempt to obtain control of Mr Sychev’s litigation, referred to the possibility of a “bribed judge” in an English court.

Mr Sychev asks that these circumstances be considered together and independently assessed.

In a separate development in 2023, emails were received containing allegations that Mr Sychev’s murder had been ordered by Mr Andrey Guryev and allegations of corrupt activity in the English courts, in which Edward Crosse of Simmons & Simmons was identified as a principal alleged perpetrator. The matter was investigated by the City of London Police for approximately eighteen months before being closed on the stated basis that the sender of the emails could not be identified. Mr Sychev says he was not informed of the closure and discovered it approximately two years later.

Mr Sychev does not present the allegations contained in the emails as established facts. He says their relevance is that they form part of the wider circumstances and raise questions that he believes warrant independent assessment.

Given the nature of some of the matters described, Mr Sychev is also asking MPs to consider whether relevant material should be brought to the attention of the National Crime Agency or another competent law-enforcement authority for independent assessment. He is not asking Parliament to determine whether an offence has been committed.

“I am not asking Parliament to decide my litigation. I am asking MPs to consider circumstances which raise legitimate questions about openness, impartiality and public confidence in the administration of justice.

The appropriate bodies should make their own assessments. Where material may warrant consideration by a competent law-enforcement authority, I believe that assessment should be made independently.”

The full Parliamentary briefing, including the documents and evidence referred to in it, is available to journalists and Members of Parliament.

sychev.massmedia@gmail.com