Russian investigators raid Sibir Energy

MOSCOW - Interior Ministry officers raided Sibir Energy's central Moscow offices on Wednesday as the London-listed company faces legal claims in Britain.

Law enforcement officials took away documents relating to the activities in 2006 of two Sibir subsidiaries, Sibir spokesman Nikolai Frolov said. They also removed documents from the offices of Moscow Oil Refinery, which is part-owned by Sibir.

The company provided no further information. The Interior Ministry confirmed the raid took place, but declined to provide details.

The raids came as Sibir faces two lawsuits in London.

Trading in Sibir was suspended in February pending the settlement of a legal dispute over alleged suspicious trading and the diversion of company funds. The company is suing Shalva Chigirinsky, a shareholder in Sibir, to return funds he received as part of a failed and controversial deal to sell his Russian real estate portfolio to the company.

Prior to the raids, state-run lender VTB bank said that it, too, had filed a lawsuit against Chigirinsky, adding to his debt woes. The bank is seeking to recover 3.1 billion rubles ($100 million) owed to it by the businessman's property company Russian Land, respected business daily Vedomosti reported, citing court documents.

It is not clear if Wednesday's raids are connected to the two lawsuits.

Sibir's main shareholder is Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia's state-run Gazprom. Gazprom Neft has said it has at least 48.7 percent in the company after it made a recent offer to investors. It has said it is not in talks with other investors.

Chigirinsky, who fled Russia earlier this year, has pledged his Sibir stake as collateral to Sberbank.

Sibir is a Russia-focused oil company that runs the Moscow Refinery with Gazprom Neft and has an oil production venture with Royal Dutch Shell in Siberia.

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