Jeffrey Galmond, a Danish lawyer and sole beneficiary owner of Bermuda-based investment fund IPOC, rejected claims that Minister Leonid Reiman had any relationship with IPOC or was involved in a conflict with Alfa Group over a 25.1% stake in Russia's third largest mobile operator.
"As I have already done before on numerous occasions," Galmond said, "I want to claim once again that the minister Reiman never had any relationship with IPOC or was involved in the conflict of the disputed shares".
He criticized Alfa for trying to link Reiman to IPOC as an "attempt to divert the legal process from the issue of the stolen shares to the political sphere."
IPOC argued that LV Finance and Alfa Group had colluded to strike a deal to sell the MegaFon stake twice using a complex web of over a dozen offshore companies, several of which were based in the British Virgin Isles. IPOC said it was the rightful owner of the share package.
Galmond accused Alfa of using all "means including unethical to reach their goals and defend their illegal business practices," and inflicting substantial damage to Reiman's reputation.
Admitting personal mistakes in his handling of IPOC activities, Galmond said his errors had made the attacks on Reiman possible, primarily using firms that Reiman had once played a role as a private businessman before assuming office. "I would like to say that I deeply regret that," Galmond stated, adding that Remain had had "no affiliation with these companies" since he had become a minister.
"But we mistakenly neglected and ignored the possibility that our opponent could use that as the reason for attacking him personally," Galmond said.
He said he understood that some actions by IPOC could have been interpreted by its opponents in Alfa in a manner to inflict damage on Reiman's reputation.
"I understand that Mr. Reiman has now all the right to start a legal procedure against me for that reputational damage and I assume that it could be quite natural development," Galmond said.
While stating that his "main mistake" was his failure "to preserve the reputation of Leonid Reiman," Galmond defended IPOC, saying the fund had never "done anything illegal."
