Germany strikes tax haven deal

Germany strikes tax haven deal

By Vanessa Houlder in London

Published: July 4 2008 17:56 | Last updated: July 4 2008 17:56

Germany signed its first tax information exchange agreement with an offshore centre on Friday, in a sign of the continuing crackdown on secrecy in the wake of the Liechtenstein tax evasion scandal.

Its agreement with Jersey, which has already agreed to exchange information with the Netherlands and the US, is a sign that some offshore centres are keen to shed the “tax haven” tag and promote themselves as well-regulated financial centres.

Pressure to reform tax havens has intensified after a former Liechtenstein bank employee sold information to German authorities, revealing widespread tax evasion. Finance ministers from the Group of Eight nations, who met in Osaka last month, called for stronger action against evasion. They said: “In view of the recent developments, we urge all countries that have not yet fully implemented the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] standards of transparency and effective exchange of information in tax matters to do so without further delay.”

The US is ratcheting up its anti-evasion efforts after a federal judge was asked to issue a summons requiring UBS, the bank, to turn over information about US taxpayers who may be using Swiss bank accounts to evade federal income taxes.

Three out of seven of the largest industrialised countries have now signed information exchange agreements with six offshore centres, as part of a long-running effort by the OECD to crack down on secrecy. Tax authorities worldwide are increasingly co-operating in a drive against evasion, while several countries including the UK have launched tax “amnesties” to persuade evaders to come forward.

The OECD blacklist of unco-operative tax havens has diminished in recent years from its original 35 named jurisdictions to the current group that includes only Liechtenstein, Monaco and Andorra.

But concerns have been raised, particularly by France and Germany, over countries such as Panama that have pledged reforms but failed to implement them. These countries have refused to reform their secrecy laws until similar reforms have been undertaken by OECD countries, particularly Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

Although Belgium has agreed to exchange information with the US and Switzerland has broadened its definition of tax fraud, there are still many opportunities to hide money in onshore jurisdictions.

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３極間物流、米経済減速で変化　アジア・欧州向けが拡大

　アジア、欧州、北米の3極間で物流が変化している。海上コンテナの輸送量ではアジア、欧州向けが拡大する一方、米国向けは、信用力の低い個人向け住宅融資（サブプライムローン）問題で失速。これまで世界経済をけん引した米国に陰りが見られる中、アジアと欧州が存在感を増している。

　3極間物流で特に好調なのがアジア向けの海上輸送だ。日本海事センター（東京・千代田）などによると、米国からアジア18カ国・地域（日本含む）に向かう海上コンテナ輸送量は2007年は前年比17.5％増の571万個（20フィートコンテナ換算）。今年も中国、ベトナム向けなどで高水準の伸びが続き、 3月は前年同月比15.9％増えた。

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合成繊維原料、三井化学が生産力半減　原燃料高、設備廃棄広がる

　原燃料価格の高騰を受け、素材メーカーを中心とする企業が不採算製品の生産設備廃棄や工場閉鎖に動き始めた。三井化学は原油高で収益が悪化している合成繊維原料の輸出を停止し、岩国大竹工場（山口県和木町）の一部設備を廃棄して国内生産能力を半減する。日本製紙グループ本社や新日本石油も工場などを閉鎖する。新興国を中心に需要は伸びているが、原燃料高は当面続くと判断。事業や拠点の選択と集中にいち早く踏み込み、競争力を維持・向上させる。

　三井化学が生産能力を減らすのは、衣類などに使うポリエステル繊維の主原料「高純度テレフタル酸」。国内唯一の生産拠点である岩国大竹工場で設備3機のうち1機をすでに停止。もう1機も2011年度までに停止する方針だ。古い設備を廃棄し、国内生産能力を47％減らして年40万トンにする。1976年の国内での生産開始以来、同原料の生産能力削減は初めて。

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ニッポン密着：中国人実習生の賃金ピンハネ、組合理事長は「元首相の甥」
　◇事業拡大「私物化」批判も

　外国人研修・技能実習制度で中国人を受け入れている「日中経済産業協同組合」（東京都渋谷区）と小渕成康（まさやす）理事長（４１）らが、実習生の賃金を中間搾取した労働基準法違反容疑で書類送検された。群馬、栃木、茨城の３県で約１００人が１億円もの被害を受けたとみられる。背景を追うと、故小渕恵三元首相の甥（おい）である小渕理事長の知名度で事業が拡大し、組合の「私物化」への批判も起きていた。

　東京・ＪＲ神田駅近くの貸会議室で５月３１日、組合の定期総会が開かれた。１カ月前の書類送検を受けて小渕理事長の進退が注目されたが、小渕理事長は「定数が足りない」と流会にし、会場を後にした。

　先立って行われた理事会は険悪なムードに包まれたという。理事の一人が「８０００万円の貸付金がまだ戻っていない」と融資問題を追及すると、小渕理事長は「私が責任を持って返します」と答えた。

　組合は０６年、組合員に融資ができるよう定款を変更。小渕理事長は、自らが役員を務める複数の会社などに組合名義で多額の融資を行っていた。しかし総会は流会。組合員の一人は憤った。「組合の私物化だ。告発を恐れて理事長に居座ろうとしている」

　　　　　■

　組合は９８年、縫製業者だった辻真市氏（７５）＝東京都調布市＝によって設立された。父親は中国で戦死。遺骨は今も現地に眠っていることから「日中の友好に役立ちたい」との思いもあった。

　設立当時、日本経済は「失われた１０年」のただ中。「最低賃金」で労働力を確保できる制度の需要は拡大した。００年、妻との死別などを契機に後継者探しを始めた時、組合員から紹介されたのが小渕現理事長。当時、元首相の兄にあたる父が経営する会社の役員だった。

　辻氏によると、理事長就任を打診した場所は群馬県高崎市。案内された事務所には、初当選したばかりの小渕優子衆院議員のポスターと元首相の遺影が飾られていた。組合の理事らは「指導力、政治力があるはず」と期待し、元首相が亡くなった半年後の００年秋、２代目理事長とした。

　「元首相の甥っ子が代表を務める組合」と名をはせた。組合員も受け入れ研修生も急増。東北地方の縫製業者は「小渕さんの組合だから安心できる」と誘われ入会したと明かす。研修生も８００人前後に達したこともある。

　　　　　■

　組合の０７年度事業計画によると、収益の柱は計１４５社の組合員からの組合管理費。約１億７５００万円の収入が予定されていたがその裏側で実習生の賃金のピンハネが行われていた。

　捜査当局によると、方法は企業から振り込まれた賃金を勝手に引き出すもので０４年ごろ始まった。月１２万円の賃金を５万円しか渡さずうち３万円は「逃亡防止」のため強制的に貯金させたケースもあり、生活費は約２万円しか残らない計算。通帳や印鑑を組合が管理することで可能になった。

　捜査幹部は「搾取は小渕理事長ら一部しか知らず、帳簿に残らない金がかなりあった」と指摘。経費や借入金の返済に充てられたとみられるが、全体像は捜査中だ。

　小渕理事長は、毎日新聞の取材に対し組合を通じて「地検から事情聴取を受け、資料などが押収されている。取材は控えさせていただきたい」と回答した。

　　　　　■

　組合の総会が流会になった日、中国人実習生の女性（３１）が成田空港から帰国した。

　東京都内市部のスーツ製造工場に３年間在籍し、繁忙期には朝６時から翌午前３時まで働くこともあった。夜９時半ごろまで工場でミシンをかけ未明まで蛍光灯１本の薄暗い自室で手縫いの内職をしたという。

　実習生時代の残業代は１時間４５０円で最低賃金を大きく下回る。駆け込んだ神奈川県央コミュニティ・ユニオンの仲介で差額分を出してもらったが、仕事漬けで日本語を勉強できず「寝る時間が一番の幸せだった」と振り返った。

　財布の中には９歳になる一人娘の色あせた写真。すっきりした目元が母親にそっくりだ。３年間一度も帰国していない。「最初に会ったらまず抱きしめてあげるの」と笑った。

　　　　　◇

　法務省によると、外国人研修生の第１次受け入れ団体は約１９００と推計。０７年に賃金未払いや人権侵害などの「不正行為」を認定した数は企業も含め過去最多の４４９に上った。【沢田石洋史、宍戸護、山下俊輔】

＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

　■ことば
　◇外国人研修・技能実習制度

　開発途上国の人材育成を目的に９０年代前半に導入された。１年の研修後、実習生として２年間就労できる。０６年に入国した研修生は約９万３０００人で、５年間で約１・６倍に増加した。

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Singapore's property boom cooling: analysts
AFP
By Bernice Han AFP - Sunday, July 6 07:27 am

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Singapore's booming residential property sector is finally showing signs of cooling but projects including two casino developments should underpin long-term prices, analysts say.
(Advertisement)

The market was described by real estate giant Jones Lang LaSalle as the world's hottest in 2007, when the city-state's property prices surged 31 percent overall.

But this year the sector has not escaped wider concerns over a US-led global economic slowdown and inflationary pressures.

Private home prices rose 0.4 percent in the second quarter, the slowest increase in four years, the government's preliminary figures showed last week.

The second-quarter rise was also much slower than the 3.7 percent increase recorded in the previous three months but prospective buyers waiting for huge bargains may be disappointed.

Property analysts say prices are likely to fall further in the third quarter but experts rule out massive declines because of the multiplier effect from two multi-billion-dollar gaming resorts now under construction.

Housing demand is expected to pick up when the first of the two casinos opens next year, employing thousands, said Chua Yang Liang, head of Southeast Asia research with Jones Lang LaSalle.

Some of the workforce for the resorts will likely come from foreign countries, creating possible demand for housing, he said.

"To staff these people, you need housing so there will be a potential effect," Chua told AFP.

Foreigners currently make up more than 20 percent of Singapore's 4.6 million population.

The Marina Bay Financial Centre, a new financial district under construction which will also feature luxury apartments, should also underpin the market in the longer term, analysts said.

Tan Huey Ying, director for research with Colliers International real estate consultants, said prices are not about to spiral downwards even though second quarter figures indicate the residential property market may have peaked.

"Singapore's positive mid-term prospects on the back of the completion of the two integrated resorts and the Marina Bay Financial Centre will help to prop prices up," said Tan.

Values may hold, or decline by no more than three percent, in the third quarter but overall for 2008 home prices could still rise four to eight percent, said Tan.

Analysts from DTZ real estate consultancy said buyers are still interested in project launches.

"Some residential projects are enjoying sell-out status while others are being well received," said Margaret Thean, DTZ's executive director for residential.

Government approval for the two gaming resorts in 2005 was one of the major factors behind the revival of Singapore's property market, which had been stuck in a rut stemming from the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Efforts to woo wealthy foreigners to take up residence in Singapore, along with an all-out bid to attract skilled foreign migrants, also drove the property market revival, analysts said.

The rebound left many expatriates struggling to cope with soaring rents which in some cases doubled over the past year.

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14:34 GMT, Sunday, 6 July 2008 15:34 UK
UAE waives billions of Iraqi debt
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki (archive image)

The United Arab Emirates has cancelled the entire debt owed to it by Iraq - a sum of almost $7bn (£3.5bn) including interest and arrears.

The Gulf state also appointed a new ambassador to Iraq, in a move which eases Baghdad's diplomatic isolation.

The news was announced during a visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

Correspondents say Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbours have been wary of fostering ties with Iraq's mainly Shia government because of its links with Iran.

Last month, the UAE's foreign minister became the highest-ranking official from an Arab nation to visit Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.

The US has been pushing its Arab allies to send ambassadors to Iraq to bolster Mr Maliki's government.

Soon after Mr Maliki arrived on his two-day visit, the UAE named its former envoy to India, Abdullah al-Shehi, as its new ambassador to Baghdad.

Better relations

The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says the debt cancellation is a welcome move for Iraq.

Like other Sunni Arab states, the UAE had downgraded its representation in Baghdad, in part because of the security situation - a number of Arab diplomats had been kidnapped or killed.

That downgrading also reflected unease that the Iraqi government seemed to be dominated by Shiites and Kurds, who are minorities in the wider Arab world, our correspondent says.

But the recent Iraqi government crack-down on Shia militias, especially the Mehdi Army of Moqtada Sadr, has impressed Iraqi Sunnis, and their sympathisers beyond the borders, he says.

This means the Baghdad government believes it is a good moment to push for better relations with the Arab states, our correspondent adds.

Royal visit

Mr Maliki used a UN forum on Iraq, held in May, to call for debt cancellation, mainly from Arab nations.

Iraq's debt has been reduced by about $66.5bn over the past three years, not taking into account Sunday's announcement by the UAE, according to the US state department.

Of that, the Paris Club of 19 developed countries cancelled some $43.2bn.

Iraq's foreign debts currently total up to $80bn, Reuters news agency says, with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait among the biggest creditors.

In another sign that its diplomatic isolation may be easing, the Iraqi government has said it expects a visit soon from Jordan's King Abdullah.

He would be the first Arab head of state to visit Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

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15:36 GMT, Friday, 4 July 2008 16:36 UK
Tofu 'may raise risk of dementia'
Tofu

Eating high levels of some soy products - including tofu - may raise the risk of memory loss, research suggests.

The study focused on 719 elderly Indonesians living in urban and rural regions of Java.

The researchers found high tofu consumption - at least once a day - was associated with worse memory, particularly among the over-68s.

The Loughborough University-led study features in the journal Dementias and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders.

Soy products are a major alternative protein source to meat for many people in the developing world.

"This kind of research into the causes of Alzheimer's could lead scientists to new ways of preventing this devastating disease. "
Rebecca Wood
Alzheimer's Research Trust

But soy consumption is also on the increase in the west, where it is often promoted as a "superfood".

Soy products are rich in micronutrients called phytoestrogens, which mimic the impact of the female sex hormone oestrogen.

There is some evidence that they may protect the brains of younger and middle-aged people from damage - but their effect on the ageing brain is less clear.

The latest study suggests phytoestrogens - in high quantity - may actually heighten the risk of dementia.

Lead researcher Professor Eef Hogervorst said previous research had linked oestrogen therapy to a doubling of dementia risk in the over-65s.

She said oestrogens - and probably phytoestrogens - tended to promote growth among cells, not necessarily a good thing in the ageing brain.

Alternatively, high doses of oestrogens might promote the damage caused to cells by particles known as free radicals.

A third theory is that damage is caused not by the tofu, but by formaldehyde, which is sometimes used in Indonesia as a preservative.

The researchers admit that more research is required to ascertain whether the same effects are found in other ethnic groups.

However, previous research has also linked high tofu consumption to an increased risk of dementia in older Japanese American men.

Fermented product

Professor David Smith, of the University of Oxford, said tofu was a complex food with many ingredients which might have an impact.

However, he said: "There seems to be something happening in the brain as we age which makes it react to oestrogens in the opposite way to what we would expect."

The latest study also found that eating tempe, a fermented soy product made from the whole soy bean, was associated with better memory.

Professor Hogervorst said the beneficial effect of tempe might be related to the fact that it contains high levels of the vitamin folate, which is known to reduce dementia risk.

"It may be that that the interaction between high levels of both folate and phytoestrogens protects against cognitive impairment."

She also stressed that there was no suggestion that eating tofu in moderation posed a problem.

Rebecca Wood, of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, which funded the study, said more research was needed to pin down the potential risks and benefits of so-called superfoods.

However, she said: "This kind of research into the causes of Alzheimer's could lead scientists to new ways of preventing this devastating disease.

"As over half a million people have Alzheimer's in the UK today, there is a desperate need to find a new prevention or cure."

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Turkmenistan isn’t going to join Nabucco project – Prikhodko

04.07.2008, 19.34

ASHGABAT, July 4 (Itar-Tass) -- Turkmenistan is not going to take part in the Nabucco project, Russian Presidential Aide Sergei Prikhodko said on Friday.

“We have never heard the word ‘Nabucco’ from our Turkmen colleagues,” he said. ”Nabucco is a virtual reality of European bureaucrats.”

Meanwhile, Russia and Turkmenistan will focus on the construction of the Pre-Caspian Pipeline.

“Partnership between Russian and Turkmen energy sectors is high-level. The sides are designing and building major pipelines,” runs a joint statement of Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. “A special focus is the construction of the Pre-Caspian Pipeline, which will considerably enlarge the supplies of Turkmen natural gas to Russia.”

The presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan signed a joint declaration on the construction of the Pre-Caspian Pipeline in May 2007, and the three governments signed a related agreement last December. The new pipeline will transport natural gas from Caspian and other deposits of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to Russia.

It is planned to build pipelines with the annual capacity of 20 billion cubic meters of gas. Each year Turkmenistan will supply ten billion cubic meters of gas, and the same amount will come from Kazakhstan.

In the future the sides may enlarge the capacity of the Pre-Caspian Pipeline as their hydrocarbon production mounts, Gazprom said.

The pipeline will be about 1,700 kilometers long, including over 500 kilometers laid across Turkmenistan and another 1,200 kilometers across Kazakhstan.

It is planned to start the construction in late 2008 – early 2009.

The 3,300-kilometer Nabucco is due to connect the European Union to gas deposits in Central Asia and the Middle East. It is planned to start the construction of the line between Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria in 2010. The project supported by the EU costs seven billion euros, but it is still unclear whether the pipeline can be filled. The European Union hopes to engage Iranian and Iraqi gas fields in the Nabucco project in the future.

The American administration objects to the possible transportation of Iranian natural gas through the prospective Nabucco pipeline, U.S. Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy Boyden Gray said in Hungary in early June.

He also said that the possible transportation of Russian natural gas through that pipeline would contradict the goal of diversified energy sources.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz replied that they should not rule out the possible use of Iranian and Russian gas and said it was a question of separate agreements.

If the pipeline is built, it will carry gas of various origins, she said. In the words of the minister, Iranian gas was a question of strategy for the United States, while the European Union, including Hungary, put the emphasis on stable supplies.

Nabucco’s primary target is Azerbaijani natural gas, Goncz said. Meanwhile, Iraq and Egypt have also announced their wish to participate in the project.

The speed of the Nabucco project exceeds the rates of the construction of its Russian rival, the South Stream, Gray said. Caspian nations show growing interest in the supplies of their gas to Western Europe, he added, saying that bilateral deals would have to be signed and the question of transit through Turkey would have to be solved.

Iran may become a key supplier of natural gas for the prospective Nabucco pipeline, Hungarian special representative for the Nabucco project Mihai Bayer told the Parliamentary International Affairs Commission earlier.

“American partners and the European Union think that Iranian gas supplies are currently impossible due to political reasons. At the same time, the international consortium hopes that Iranian gas will become accessible sooner or later and Iran will become a key source of natural gas,” he said.

At the same time, the representative did not rule the use of Russian natural gas.

So far, Azerbaijan is the key source of the project.

The European Union is pushing Central Asian republics to appoint their special representative for the Nabucco project.

EU officials wish to meet with Turkmen, Kazakh and Uzbek colleagues this fall to discuss the creation of a Caspian-Black Sea energy corridor from Central Asia to the European Union borders, said Emma Udwin from the European Commission.

She said they would like Central Asian countries to appoint their representatives in charge of the energy corridor, including Nabucco.

In the words of Bayer, governments of project member countries may sign an agreement by the end of this year. He said the related negotiations might start in the Hague this September.

The growth of the prospective pipeline’s cost to 7.9 billion euros will not delay the Nabucco launch, which is due in 2013, he said. The larger cost of construction works may be included in the gas price for end users, he added.

Iran is fundamental for the Nabucco gas pipeline project, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana said in mid-March.

He said the nuclear problem was the most important aspect of the European Union relations with Iran but other areas should not be neglected either.

Experts say that the EU needs stable relations with Iran in the Nabucco project not only to have another gas source but also to ensure security of the pipeline, which will go through a troubled region.

The European Union cannot do without Iranian natural gas in the Nabucco pipeline project, Russian Permanent Representative to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said this April.

“The West must make a decision: either to bomb Iran or take its gas,” he said.

In the long term, “there will be place for everyone, including Nabucco and the South Stream. Yet, in the short term, the problem of filling these pipelines with gas is pressing, as neither Azerbaijan nor Turkmenistan have enough hydrocarbons,” Chizhov said. “Thus, Europe cannot do without Iranian supplies.”

The European demand for hydrocarbons will continue to grow for the next 50 years, “no matter what they may say about prospects of solar and wind energy, bio-fuel or nuclear power plants,” he said.

The Nabucco pipeline can successfully co-exist with new Russian projects of gas deliveries to Europe, Managing Director of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH Reinhard Mitschek said.

He referred to the Russian South Stream project, a rival of Nabucco.

In his opinion, the two projects are rivals to some degree but they also supplement one another. Europe will need additional 150 billion cubic meters of gas within the next decade, Mitschek said. At the same time, Nabucco and South Stream are capable of carrying only 30 billion cubic meters.

Meanwhile, Gazprom Export Director General Alexander Medvedev said that the company did not plan to join the Nabucco project either as a partner or a gas supplier.

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Russia may stop oil exports through Baltic states by 2015
15:04 | 05/ 07/ 2008

ST. PETERSBURG, July 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russia may completely stop by 2015 using ports in the Baltic states to transport energy supplies abroad via sea routes, the transportation minister said on Saturday.

Russia currently exports about 80% of its oil products through ports in the Baltic states.

"By 2015 we will have sufficient energy supplies transit capacity at our domestic ports," Igor Levitin told a government meeting in St. Petersburg.

Russia is building a sea merchant port at Ust-Luga in the Gulf of Finland outside St. Petersburg to ensure steady transit of oil and gas from both Russia's oil-rich regions and Kazakhstan to Europe via the Baltic Pipeline System-2 (BPS-2), stretching from western Russia's Bryansk Region to the Leningrad Region.

The Ust-Luga port is expected to reach an annual transit capacity of 100-130 million tons of oil and oil derivatives by 2015.

BPS-2 is the second stage of the Baltic Pipeline System (BPS), which was commissioned in 2001 and has a current capacity of 75 mln tons. The cost of the construction of the pipeline stretch to Ust-Luga is estimated at 78 billion rubles ($3.3 billion).

The BPS-2 project emerged during an oil conflict between Russia and Belarus in January 2007, when Russia did not supply oil to Europe for four days via the Druzhba pipeline after Belarus had refused to let Russian transit oil flows pass without Russia paying a transit duty.

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Abramovich leaves Chukotka
18:59 | 04/ 07/ 2008

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Oleg Mityayev) - On July 3, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accepted the early resignation of Roman Abramovich, the governor of Chukotka, a region in Russia's Far East.

Abramovich, the Russia billionaire owner of Chelsea FC, who governed Chukotka remotely from London, had filed his resignation more than once.

Why did Vladimir Putin refuse to let him go, and why has Dmitry Medvedev granted his request? Nobody can say now. Let's try to at least cover Abramovich's main achievements.

1. He was among Russia's first oligarchs, one of the lucky few who had a one-in-a-million chance to buy a huge part of the disintegrating Soviet industry relatively cheaply, completely in line with the initial accumulation theory formulated by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the founding fathers of socialism.

2. Next Abramovich used his assets smartly, one of which was the oil company Sibneft. He and Boris Berezovsky bought it from the state for 'only' $100-$200 million and got down to increasing its value. They produced mostly 'easy oil' and did not invest in well repairs or exploration. Abramovich later sold the company to state-controlled energy giant Gazprom for $13 billion. See the difference?

3. Abramovich quickly saw that the era of Boris Yeltsin's all-permissiveness was ending, and so when Vladimir Putin came to power in Russia in 1999-2000, he put himself at the disposal of the new president's team.

4. He helped the government fight his former partner, Berezovsky, who had dared to bite the hand that fed him. Abramovich was instrumental in wresting control over the country's main television channel, ORT (now the First Channel), from Berezovsky. Now the channel belongs fully to the state. Until recently, a stake in the state-controlled TV company belonged to a mysterious company called ORT-KB, which was traced either to Chukotka or Abramovich's offshore companies in Cyprus. Berezovsky has not received a cent from the sale of Sibneft as well.

5. Abramovich was the governor of Chukotka from December 2000 to July 3, 2008. He invested as much as $2 billion in the province, although mainly in cosmetic changes. It is the state that will have to finance the mega-projects that have been discussed for years.

6. He issued grants to young researchers through the Fund of Assistance to Russian Science, a powerful driver of innovative research. He is rich enough to do this.

7. Abramovich allocated a plot of 26 hectares (64 acres) in the Odintsovo district near Moscow for an elite business-school whose council of trustees was chaired by Dmitry Medvedev when he was first deputy prime minister.

8. He used the funds raised from the sale of Sibneft to buy Chelsea FC, yachts and real estate, and also invested in different assets, therefore increasing his wealth. According to Forbes, last year Abramovich increased his wealth by $6.8 billion, to $24.3 billion, becoming 15th on the magazine's 2008 list of the world's richest people and Russia's second-richest man. He would have probably kept top place if not for his charity projects.

9. And lastly, Abramovich is paying the salary of Guus Hiddink, the Dutch football manager he invited to coach Russia's national team. He may have to pay him more after the 2008 European Football Championship, where Russia won third place.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.