‘House in order’

Dmitry Skarga’s wife denied on Monday that the former Sovcomflot boss received $100,000 from business associate Yuri Nikitin to fund a house purchase at a “very cheap price”.

Natalya Skarga also claimed she has resisted speaking with her husband about evidence he has so far given to a London High Court in relation to an alleged corruption case brought against him and others by his former employer.

In March 2002 the Skargas bought a country house outside Moscow. Although both contributed towards the purchase price of RUB 900,000 ($29,060 at the time), the property was bought in Mrs Skarga’s name.

Sovcomflot’s barrister Andrew Popplewell QC asked Mrs Skarga where she got her own funds from. She said that since 2002 she has been working as a neurologist in a Moscow cardio-vascular research centre with a salary of about $1,000 a month.

Dmitry Skarga, left, and Yuri Nikitin.

The idea to buy the property in Krylatskiye Kholmy came after a meeting between the Skargas and Adolf Smirnov, a former partner at one of Niktin’s then companies, Kinex.

Mrs Skarga told the court that, when she and her husband went to Smirnov’s office to wish him ‘Happy Birthday’ and have a casual chat over tea, she raised the idea that she wanted to buy a property in the country as their young family was growing. Smirnov mentioned he was involved in construction in the Krylatskiye Kholmy area and gave Mrs Skarga the name and number of a contact.

Popplewell put it to Mrs Skarga that she had in fact first learned of the opportunity to buy this unfinished house from her husband and that he had given her the contact details, both of which she denied.

A price of RUB 900,000 was agreed for the property. Popplewell pressed the witness: “I suggest [that] would have been a very cheap price at the time for this kind of property in this location. Were you aware of this?” adding he estimated that such a property in that location at that time could have fetched over RUB 4m.

Mrs Skarga replied in Russian through an interpreter: “No, this was a reasonable price.”

The barrister further suggested that Mr Skarga arranged for $100,000 to be paid to the seller on top of the purchase price, something also denied by the former Sovcomflot director general’s wife.

Popplewell went further to suggest that Mr Skarga had arranged for Nikitin, a private shipowner with whom he had entered into various transactions while at Sovcomflot, to front this $100,000. This was also rebutted by Mrs Skarga.

Mr Skarga has already denied claims made by Sovcomflot’s barrister that a payment of $100,000 from Mr Nikitin to a company called Rebelate Enterprises was to facilitate the purchase of the property.

(Click here to read earlier exclusive reports from the Sovcomflot corruption trial as well as the interlocutory judgments in full.)

Mrs Skarga, who lives in Moscow while her husband has been living at Nikitin’s house outside London for some years, denied in court that she has been told by anyone about her husband’s earlier evidence in relation to the allegations surrounding the house purchase.

Popplewell pressed Mrs Skarga on whether or not she has had any discussions with her husband on the subject prior to making her witness statement.

“My husband warned me that lawyers would phone me up and ask me questions about the purchase, that’s all.”

The barrister continued: “Did he make any suggestions to you about what to put in the statement?”

“No”.

“Has he made any suggestions to you over the weekend about what you should say in your evidence?”

“No”, she again replied.

Mrs Skarga was due to leave the UK for Russia on Monday afternoon and is not expected to give further evidence.

The trial will continue in early February.

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