Hello and welcome to the Ebby Online podcast, this week's topic and guest is a little different. I was approached by a Russian oligarch called Igor Sychev who wanted to tell his story about the failed assassination attempts on his life due to his decision to speak out against corruption from Putin's other oligarchs.
The ongoing Russian onslaught in Ukraine has caused Western governments to sanction Russia's oligarchs that reside in various locations around the world, my guest is also one of them.Although he is subjected to sanctions in the UK and other countries due to his links to the Russian regime, Igor is worth £8.3billion, he is a billionaire that owns one of the second largest mansions in Highgate London, with Buckingham Palace taking first place for being the biggest home in London.
Igor has not returned to London and has been residing in Latvia after gaining political asylum status, he has claimed that other Russian oligarchs have issued failed assassination attempts on his life after he decided to take the owners of his old employer Phosagro to court. After helping his former company out of a tax avoidance jam in Russia the company promised him a substantial bonus which amounted to one per cent of the company, and this was never paid to him so he started legal action.
Throughout this podcast, we discuss the alleged assassination attempts on Igor's cars where he narrowly dodged death and an allegation of a poisoning attempt. I have contacted Phosagro and the National Crime Agency for comment on the claims made by Igor but I have not received a response, although I did find comments published by the Mail Online from the National Crime Agency on the allegations from Igor, The NCA has vehemently denied the accusations leveraged against them in a quote which reads: 'The Agency does not routinely confirm or deny the existence of investigations.'
The managing partner for the law firm told MailOnline: 'We have been accused by our former client along with another reputable law firm and a number of High Court and Court of Appeal Judges of having been bribed. 'There is not a shred of evidence to support his absurd allegations and we are currently involved in intended defamation proceedings against him and any publisher of his wicked lies.'In an application for security for costs he wished to avoid complying with Court practice and direction and turn the application into a trial. 'That would have infuriated the Court.
Instead of focusing on the core issues he decided that we were in the pay of Putin and has now commenced a campaign against us and the other firm without a shred of evidence.'Mr Sychev is paranoid and delusional. He will be restrained by the Courts. 'We intend to invoke the graver crime of malicious falsehood against Mr Sychev and against those who have published his malicious lies given that he is acting with hate and malice and without any evidence.'Thank you for listening and please don't forget to give my podcast a rating and a follow on whichever platform you are streaming from.
In order to be legally safe I have chosen not to discuss his accusations against lawyers of taking bribes during this episode.