Real IRA admits bomb attacks on Northern Ireland banks

The Real IRA has admitted bombing two banks in Northern Ireland as well as the UK City of Culture office in Derry, and has warned that it will continue to target economic interests.

In a statement to the Guardian laced with anti-capitalist rhetoric, the Real IRA said the bombings and future targeting of the banking system were its response to bankers' "greed" and were meant "to send out the message that while the Irish national and class struggles are distinct, they are not separate".

The attacks and the language used in attempting to justify them appeared designed to tap into the widespread public loathing of the banks on both sides of the Irish border.

The republican dissident group was unapologetic about bombing the office of the UK City of Culture 2013 in Derry last week. It said the office was a symbolic target because the City of Culture award to Derry underpinned British rule.

In its most bellicose warning yet to the banks on both sides of the Irish Sea and the border, the Real IRA said: "The IRA has recently carried out a number of bomb attacks on the banking establishment.

"Such attacks are an integral part of our strategy of targeting the financial infrastructure that supports the British government's capitalist colonial system in Ireland. The impetus to carry out this type of attack is directly linked to pressure from working-class communities in Ireland as a whole.

"At a grassroots level, working-class communities are suffering most from the effects of cuts to essential services and poverty is now endemic. Families who have lost income as a result of the financial crisis – caused by the bankers – are being intimidated and some are being evicted from their homes."

The organisation added that "the ruling class of bankers and politicians are disconnected from the consequences of their disastrous policies and decisions".

In May, masked men threw a holdall containing a device into Santander's branch in Derry city centre. In August, a bomb was thrown into Santander in Hill Street, Newry. A Real IRA bomb caused major damage to a branch of the Ulster Bank in Derry last year.

The terror group attempted to link the banks to the Police Service of Northern Ireland. "In the six counties, the effective power of the system is vested in heavily armed PSNI units who, ultimately, enforce bank repossessions of homes, vehicles, etc," it said. "The PSNI is not a police force, it is a political militia and a social control tool designed to protect the interests of the British establishment whether financial or political."

In September last year, the Real IRA had issued a warning that banks and bankers could be targeted.

As well as the attack in Derry's Guildhall Square last week, a bomb was left there on 12 October last year. The organisation predicted such incidents in the runup to Derry becoming a City of Culture in 15 months' time.

The Real IRA statement said: "The IRA has also carried out bombing operations against the so-called UK City of Culture offices in Derry city centre. It should be obvious that our objection is focused on the political exploitation of Derry's name and culture. Republicans view this charade as an elaboration of the well-choreographed 'peace process' which resulted in former IRA personnel serving as British ministers.

"This time, the whole nationalist community is expected to join in celebrations of their place within the United Kingdom and thereby realise the Thatcherite policy of regarding the six counties as being 'as British as Finchley'. Expressions of Irish identity within the context of 2013 will be effectively 'licensed' by the organisers under the banner UK City of Culture."

The group added: "The timing of the UK City of Culture is linked to the economic crisis: cash-strapped businesses naturally follow the carrot of increased revenue in 2013, politicians under pressure to produce jobs are totally compliant, anyone who objects is smeared or labelled a 'dissident'. The goodwill of our communities is being held to ransom, critical thinking is seen as dangerous, whole communities are being encouraged to adopt a herd mentality. The IRA will continue to challenge this; resistance will continue."

The bombing of the City of Culture office caused outrage throughout Derry and beyond, with hundreds demonstrating against the attack.

A Real IRA representative also told the Guardian that the Sinn Féin deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, was under no physical threat. McGuinness, a candidate for the Irish presidency, has claimed his life has been under threat from republican dissidents in recent years. "Why would we turn him into a so-called martyr?" the Real IRA representative said.

Rotten regimes will plunder aid millions: As Britain gives more, fraud will grow, warns MPs

Millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money could be lost to corrupt regimes as a result of the Government’s ballooning aid budget, a hard-hitting report by MPs has warned.
The Public Accounts Committee added that the Department of International Development had a ‘poor understanding’ of the scale and likelihood of aid being lost to fraud.
The MPs said the department was directing increasing amounts of money towards conflict-ridden countries such as Somalia and Pakistan, creating a ‘danger’ that it will be siphoned off by corrupt officials.
The report is yet another damning assessment of DfID, which is enjoying a 34 per cent spending increase in real terms at a time when other Whitehall departments are having their budgets slashed.
Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged that foreign aid will rise from ￡8.4billion this year to ￡12.6billion in 2015 – equal to ￡479 for every household in Britain.
In March, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said the Government will pour billions of pounds of aid money into some of the world’s most corrupt regimes in a bid to tackle poverty.

He insisted that changes had been made to safeguard taxpayers’ money, but the committee warned that ‘operating in high-risk environments means the potential for increased risk of leakage through fraud and corruption’.
The report added: ‘The department intends to focus more on fragile and conflict-affected states which pose higher risks in terms of poor security, delivery capacity, measurement of costs and outcomes, and leakage of funds through fraud and corruption.’
The report came as former prime minister Tony Blair said aid to Africa could be brought to an end within a generation.

He said: ‘It’s a new generation coming in. They are grateful for the help but they know the greater sign of progress will be when they shake hands and say “thank you very much” and make their way on themselves.’
Aid beneficiaries include many of the world’s most corrupt countries, raising fears that much of the money may never reach the people it was intended for.
The biggest winner will be the failed African state of Somalia, rated as the most corrupt nation on earth.
Aid to Somalia will rocket by 207 per cent to ￡250million over the next four years.
Labour MP Margaret Hodge, chairman of the PAC, said: ‘The department is going to be spending more in fragile and conflict-affected countries and the danger to the taxpayer is that there could be an increase in fraud and corruption.
‘However, the department could not even give us information as to the expected levels of fraud and corruption and the action they were taking to mitigate it.
'The department’s ability to make informed spending decisions is undermined by its poor understanding of levels of fraud and corruption.’
Mr Mitchell said the Coalition had transformed DfID’s financial management and took a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach to fraud.
He added: ‘Although accurately reflecting the position under Labour, the report appears to take little account of the huge changes the Coalition has made.’

Gilad Shalit release: Palestinian prisoner exchange getting under way

The elaborate machinery of a prisoner swap deal between two bitter enemies swung into motion early on Tuesday, as hundreds of Palestinians and one Israeli soldier prepared to return home in one of the most dramatic recent developments in the otherwise deadlocked Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Before dawn on Tuesday the first 96 inmates were moved from a prison in the south to another in the West Bank, where they were later to be released, a spokesman for Israel's prisons service said.

The Israel-Hamas deal, to take place on Tuesday morning, is going ahead despite criticism and court appeals in Israel against the release of 1,027 Palestinians for a single captured armoured corps sergeant, Gilad Shalit, held by militants in Gaza since 2006.

The exchange was negotiated through mediators because Israel and Hamas will not talk directly to each other. It involves a delicate series of staged releases, each one triggering the next.

When it is over, Shalit – 19 years old at the time of his capture and 25 now – will be free, ending what for Israel has been a prolonged and painful saga. Israel was forced to acknowledge that it had no way of rescuing Shalit in a military operation, though the soldier was held no more than a few miles from its border.

Instead, Israel agreed to a prisoner exchange that Hamas officials have openly said will encourage them to capture more soldiers. It will free Palestinians convicted of some of the deadliest attacks against Israeli civilians.

Numerically uneven swaps for captured or dead Israeli soldiers held by armed Arab groups have taken place a number of times since the 1980s. The last one, in 2008, saw the release of five militants in return for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers held by the Lebanese group Hezbollah. In a deal with Hezbollah in 2004 Israel freed about 400 prisoners in return for a former army colonel and the bodies of three soldiers.

When Tuesday's exchange is complete 477 Palestinians held in Israeli jails will have been released, several of them after decades behind bars. Another 550 are set to be released in two months.

Palestinians slated to be part of the initial part of the exchange have already been moved from their original prisons to other Israeli penal installations in preparation for their release. The very first group, 27 women, are to walk free sometime after dawn on Tuesday.

After that Hamas is supposed to move Shalit from Gaza through the Rafah border terminal into Egypt, where he will be met by Israeli medical personnel, according to Israeli defence officials.

Once the soldier is in Egypt, officials have said, the rest of the prisoners will be released under the terms of the exchange agreement. About 100 will be sent to the West Bank and roughly 30 are to be deported to Jordan, Turkey, Qatar and Syria, which agreed to take prisoners who Israel insisted must not be allowed to return home, according to Hamas officials. The rest will be freed in Gaza.

Shalit will be brought to an Israeli military base along the Egypt border, where he will be issued a new military uniform and given another medical examination, according to the Israeli military. Although he appeared healthy the last time he was seen in a brief and scripted 2009 video released by Hamas he was denied all visits, including by the Red Cross, and the state of his mental and physical health is unclear.

Shalit will then be flown by helicopter to an air force base in central Israel, where he will meet his parents, as well as the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, the defence minister and military chief of staff.

From there he will be flown to his family's home in northern Israel.

The swap drew an emotional response from some in Israel because of the number and identities of the prisoners.

Among those being released are militants involved in planning and executing suicide bombings in restaurants and on buses during the years of the second Palestinian uprising, which began in 2000.

The planned celebrations for their release were to be attended both by officials from Hamas, the Islamic group that captured Shalit and negotiated the deal, and from the Palestinian Authority, the western-backed government that wields partial control in the West Bank.

Among Palestinians the exchange appeared likely to strengthen Hamas, which is dedicated to Israel's destruction, at the expense of the rival Fatah movement, which dominates the Palestinian Authority and says it wants to peacefully create a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

In Israel public pressure for a deal was intense. Thanks in part to a vocal campaign led by his parents, Shalit had become a symbol of national solidarity in a country where military service is mandatory for Jewish citizens and where the government is seen as responsible for bringing soldiers home.

In Israel relatives of victims of Palestinian attacks filed court appeals aimed at stopping the deal. One was filed by the surviving members of the Schijveschuurder family, whose parents and three siblings were killed when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a Jerusalem pizzeria in 2001, killing 15.

At an emotionally charged supreme court hearing on Monday, Noam Shalit, the soldier's father urged the judges not to delay the exchange. Late on Monday the court decided not to intervene, removing the last hurdle for the deal to go through.

A poll published on Monday showed 79% of Israelis supporting the deal, with 14% opposed.

New iPhone on sale, fans buy in tribute to Jobs

SYDNEY/TOKYO (Reuters) - Apple Inc's new iPhone went on sale in stores across the globe on Friday, with fans snapping up the final gadget unveiled during Steve Jobs' lifetime, many buying the phone as a tribute to the former Apple boss.

Hundreds queued around city blocks in Sydney and Tokyo to get their hands on the iPhone 4S, ahead of store sales in Germany, France, Britain and North America.

"I am a fan, a big fan. I want something to remember Steve Jobs by," said Haruko Shiraishi, waiting patiently with her Yorkshire terrier Miu Miu at the end of an eight block queue in Tokyo's smart Ginza shopping district.

The new model looks similar to the previous iPhone 4 but has an upgraded camera, faster processor and highly regarded voice-activated software, which allows users to ask questions.

Australian Tom Mosca, the first to buy the phone in Sydney, said he would ask his new white iPhone: "Where's Steve?" Many Apple fans believe the phone was called iPhone 4S to mean "for Steve".

Apple CEO Tim Cook and his executive team hope the first device sold without their visionary leader at the helm will protect them against a growing challenge from the likes of Samsung Electronics.

The South Korean firm, Apple's arch-rival with smartphones powered by Google's Android software, expects to overtake it as the world's biggest smartphone vendor in terms of units sold in the third quarter.

The iPhone 4S -- introduced just a day before Jobs died -- was dubbed a disappointment because it fell short of being a revolution in design, but glowing reviews centered around its "Siri" voice-activated software have helped it set a record pace in initial, online sales orders.

In Tokyo, 24-year-old Ryosuke Ishinabe said: "I just wanted the newest iPhone. I want to try out iCloud."

Despite the enthusiasm at Apple stores, the launch was marred somewhat by widespread complaints this week on the Internet about problems downloading iOS 5 -- the latest version of Apple's mobile software.

There were also problems with iCloud, Apple's online communications, media storage and backup service formally launched on Wednesday, with users reporting glitches such as losing their email access.

Those concerns pale compared to the problems for rival Research in Motion, which has been grappling with an international outage of its Blackberry email and messaging services for several days.

JOBS SHADOW OVER iPHONE LAUNCH

The vast majority of the iPhone 4S buyers at the Sydney store appeared to be existing Apple customers, many having bought the original iPhone and its subsequent upgrades. Only one out of 10 people surveyed by Reuters was a new Apple customer.

"I have been waiting for the iPhone 5 for a long time. But since Jobs died, I wanted to make sure I had a new iPhone with some advantages over the old," said iPhone devotee Mark Du, concerned over future Apple gadgets without Jobs in charge.

Apple fans in Sydney and Tokyo made sure Jobs was part of the iPhone 4S launch, with flower, candle and photo shrines to the late Apple boss erected outside the stores.

Underscoring the enthusiasm for the new phone, Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp had to temporarily stop contract applications after its computer system was overwhelmed with more requests than it had expected.

Apple said it did not release sales figures on launch day, so gauging initial sales is difficult. Apple said it had taken more than 1 million online orders in the first 24 hours after its release, exceeding the 600,000 for the iPhone 4, though that model was sold in fewer countries initially.

Some analysts expect fourth-quarter iPhone shipments to reach 30 million or more, almost twice as much as a year ago.

Apple's fifth-generation iPhone uses chips from Qualcomm Inc, Toshiba and a host of smaller semiconductor companies, according to repair firm iFixit, which cracked the device open on Thursday.

APPLE SOFTWARE CRITICISM

Apple's iOS 5 software became available this week and is intended to upgrade older phones and enable new features such as better Twitter integration.

But glitches with the new iCloud service and mobile software sparked a chorus of user complaints.

"This would be a great time for like, Samsung or something, to take out a sponsored ad," user Ryan James Kirk tweeted.

The iPhone -- seen as the gold standard for smartphones -- is Apple's highest-margin product and accounts for 40 percent of its annual revenue.

Analysts point to several factors in Apple's favor: a $199 price that matches up well with rival devices; availability promised on more than 100 carriers by the end of 2011, far more than its predecessors; and glowing reviews.

In a sign of how tough the competition is, two doors along from the Sydney Apple store, Samsung has been selling its new Galaxy SII for only A$2 to its first 10 customers each day, prompting Samsung fans to also camp out on the footpath.

(Reporting by Michael Perry in SYDNEY, Edwin Chan in LOS ANGELES, Isabel Reynolds in TOKYO and Poornim; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Alex Richardson)

At home with the 'catgate' couple: Man at centre of storm reveals how he stole porcelain feline from Debenhams

The immigration case that split the Cabinet was yesterday revealed to involve two cats, not one.
Bolivian Camilo Soria successfully fought deportation after drafting in Maya, his black-and-white moggie, to support his fight to stay.
However, it was his theft of a second cat – a ceramic one to be exact – that brought him to the attention of the authorities in the first place.
Soria first came to Britain to study English in 2002 on a six-month visa. He then successfully extended the visa for another year.
Soria’s status came to light when he was arrested and cautioned in February 2007 for shoplifting from Debenhams.
An attempt to deport him was resisted – with Soria relying on the fact he owned property including a pet cat and he was allowed to stay three more years. Now Soria needs to make a new appeal against deportation next year to stay until 2015.
Soria recalled how a judge handling his original application said Maya would not have to ‘adapt to Bolivian mice’.
‘It is funny that the judge joked about that because she never eats any mice here. Never. All the other cats do but she doesn’t. Actually Maya’s favourite food is a Morrison’s seafood platter catfood.
‘And she likes chicken and fish sticks.
‘There is a lot to do looking after all the cats. But if we buy our own house in future I would like to get a dog as well. Only a small one, though.’
The cat formed just one part of their case, Soria said, and added that he feels ‘branded a criminal’.
‘Since I have been in Britain I have always worked. I have paid my tax and National Insurance and I have never claimed benefits,’ he said.
‘Myself and my partner have paid all our legal fees, which are several thousand pounds in relation to all the hearings that have happened.
‘The state has not had to pay anything but it is being portrayed as though I am some sort of scrounger.’
He added: ‘I regret the shoplifting. Sometimes in life you make stupid mistakes.
‘I like cat ornaments. I have dozens of them at home. Stupidly I took this one and the police came.’
Soria added: ‘It’s really got nothing to do with the cat. In fact all the evidence which was presented suggested I had the right to remain in the UK. I feel bad. I feel like I’ve been made to look like a criminal by Theresa May. It is as though I am something that should be held up that people in Britain should be worried about.’
The couple live in a one-bedroom flat at the Elephant and Castle, South London. Mr Trew said it was not just about the cat.
‘It was all about pictures, bank statements and rental agreements.
‘We mentioned the cat as one line in a folder of evidence to show we were not chancers and had a stable life together. When the Home Office turned it down they started to mention the cat more. When the case first came out in a newspaper report in 2009 we were annoyed because the cat case was cited alongside those of dangerous criminals. It seemed totally unfair.
‘I think Theresa May used it for her own ends to make her point about the Human Rights Act. It seems cynical.’
Soria added: ‘I think Theresa May was badly informed about this and about the human rights laws. I think Ken Clarke was right. It is nothing to do with the cat.’
 

Casey Anthony gives video evidence in bizarre disguise at real-life 'Zanny-the nanny' defamation trial

Casey Anthony gave video evidence this morning in the defamation lawsuit against her, disguised in a wig, baseball cap and sunglasses.
The testimony was part of the case brought against her by Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, who had the same name as the fictional nanny, 'Zanny', Anthony blamed for the disappearance of her daughter, Caylee.
It is the first time the 25-year-old has been seen since her release from jail in July.
This morning Anthony's lawyer repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, as expected, according to John Morgan, Gonzalez' lawyer.
Morgan questioned Anthony, who was in a secret, remote, location in Florida, via video link.
Anthony did answer general questions, including whether she was present during her trial and whether she was in court for her attorney's opening statement, Morgan said.
But more specific questions were blocked with the Fifth Amendment invocation by lawyer Charles Greene, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Anthony, who is currently serving a year's parole, wore a Philadelphia Philllies baseball cap, 'gigantic sunglasses' and what seemed to be a long, dark-haired wig during her testimony, Morgan said.
While she appeared not to want to be there, Morgan said, she was 'composed' and 'courteous.
'Deep breathing, nostrils flaring,' Morgan said of her appearance.
The questioning finished after about 45 minutes, the lawyer said.
He added: 'We didn't want to turn this into a 2-hour circus,'
'We asked enough questions and got her to invoke the Fifth enough times that we feel we got enough to take a motion to the judge to compel her to answer these questions.
'We didn't want to go bit by bit through [case details such as] the trunk and the chloroform; that would have served no purpose.'
Anthony continued to blame 2-year-old Caylee's abduction on the fictional babysitter for three years.
But she sensationally changed her story at the opening of her murder trial, when her lawyer told the court that babysitter never existed and that Caylee drowned in the family pool.
Fernandez-Gonzalez claims that Anthony's use of her name caused her to lose her home and job because some people believed she was responsible for Caylee's disappearance, ABC News reported. She and her children received threats, according to the law suit.
Anthony came up with the name of Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez after both women visited the same Florida apartment complex on the same day, Fernandez-Gonzalez's lawyer John Morgan said. 
Fernandez-Gonzalez filled out an information card, which included the names of two of her children and details of her car, the same as Anthony would later tell police.
Anthony's lawyer said that he will challenge some of Fernandez-Gonzalez' claims.
He said: 'This is not a case about whether Casey had anything to do with the death of Caylee or whether she's a good person or bad person,'
Greene told ABC News. 'It's about whether Zenaida is the one Casey was referring to. Even if she is, was this woman who went on countless TV shows and inserted herself in the public eye damaged?'
Fernandez-Gonzalez has had to wait more than three years to bring her trial as she had to wait till criminal proceedings were finished.
'Some say [Fernandez-Gonzalez's case] is frivolous, but what they don't remember is what her and her family went through three or four years ago.'
After Anthony's allegations became public Fernandez-Gonzalez received death threats and terrifying late night phone calls in which she and her children were threatened, Morgan told the News channel.
Fernandez-Gonzalez will be questioned by Anthony's lawyers November 3.
Anthony was acquitted of murder in the death of Caylee, but was convicted on four counts of lying to law enforcement. She is currently serving one year of probation in Florida for a check fraud conviction.

NLDS: Cardinals beat Phillies 5-3 to force Game 5

ST. LOUIS -- Like a conductor responding to an especially inspired performance by Yo-Yo Ma, Tony La Russa acknowledged a virtuoso in a possible farewell engagement.

He applauded after Albert Pujols made a play every bit as instinctive, if not as urgent, as Derek Jeter's back-hand flip to home plate in the 2001 playoffs. This moment may not become as famous but one thing is for sure: La Russa isn't going to forget it.

"We talk about it all the time,'' La Russa said after the Cardinals' 5-3 victory over Philadelphia, which evened the National League Division Series at two games apiece. "We tell people he's a great player. The best way to do that is with the plays he makes. ? That was classic. That's part of his greatness. He plays the whole game in a great way.''

With the Phillies' Chase Utley trying to go from first to third base on a slow chopper to shortstop, Pujols came off the bag to take a throw from Rafael Furcal and then threw across the diamond. Utley, who at the time represented the tying run, was retired easily by third baseman David Freese.

"Albert's Albert,'' said Freese, who drove in four runs with a homer and double. "He does stuff like that all the time. You just have to be ready. His instincts are second to none. He threw me a bullet.''

Following a four-hit effort in Game 3, Pujols was hitless Wednesday night. But his throw across the infield probably saved a run and, along with the work of rental starter Edwin Jackson and a bullpen reconstructed at the trade deadline, spoke volumes about a team that made up a difference of 101/2 games in the NL wild-card race, passing the Braves on the last day of the season.

La Russa's clubs rarely beat themselves, and down the stretch this has been one of his good teams, certainly one of his most stubborn. By stiff-arming the Phillies' Roy Oswalt, they delayed the vigil over Pujols' impending free agency a couple of days, if not weeks.

Chris Carpenter faces Roy Halladay in the deciding Game 5 of this series on Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Roman's defence: Russia was like a medieval state

Be it the blacked-out Maybachs, gargantuan bodyguards or billions of pounds at stake, there was no shortage of intrigue yesterday as the 'Battle of the Oligarchs' entered its second day at London's High Court.

Perhaps the most captivating element of all in the bitter dispute between Chelsea's billionaire owner Roman Abramovich and his former friend, the wanted businessman and politician Boris Berezovsky, was its promise to shed light on the shadowy gangland world of mid-90s Russia.

That light burst into brilliant luminescence as Britain's leading barrister, Jonathan Sumption QC – rumoured to be receiving an eight-figure fee – delivered his opening arguments in defence of Mr Abramovich.

The Chelsea owner, worth an estimated ￡8.6bn, and his former mentor Mr Berezovsky, whose fortune totals a meagre ￡500m, again sat on opposite sides of the courtroom, surrounded by lawyers, as Mr Sumption – a medieval historian in his spare time – said conditions in Russia after the collapse of communism "have not been seen in this country since the 15th century".

He told Mrs Justice Gloster that it was "not easy" for lawyers to understand those "quite extraordinary conditions" but added: "Your Ladyship must have read Shakespeare."

The QC then launched into a tale of threats, favours and intimidation between a cast of Russian billionaires and Presidents, either dead, imprisoned, sat in court or in one case still in high office in the Kremlin and expected to return to the presidency.

"There was no rule of law," he said. "Police were corrupt. The courts were unpredictable at best – at worst open to manipulation by major political or economic interest groups.

"Nobody could go into business without access to political power. If you didn't have political power yourself, you needed access to a godfather who did."

Mr Abramovich is being sued by Mr Berezovsky – who alleges breach of trust and breach of contract over the oil firm Sibneft and is claiming more than ￡3.2bn in damages. On Monday Mr Berezovsky's barrister, Lawrence Rabinowitz QC, portrayed the two oligarchs as friends and equal partners in Sibneft, before Mr Abramovich intimidated him into selling his shares at a knockdown price or face their being seized by the Kremlin.

The tale told by Mr Sumption yesterday was markedly different. He said Mr Berezovsky was paid millions of pounds by businesses controlled by Mr Abramovich for his services as a "political godfather".

"Mr Berezovsky was a highly controversial figure in Russian politics in the 1990s," he said. "Boris Berezovsky was a power broker."

Mr Berezovsky's lawyers shook their heads as Mr Sumption described him as a man with no knowledge or interest in the oil business – his only significant contribution to Sibneft being securing for Mr Abramovich valuable political introductions and his influence over then President Boris Yeltsin via his daughter Tatyana Yumasheva and her husband, Mr Yeltsin's chief of staff.

"He didn't contribute a single cent to the acquiring or the building up of the business," said Mr Sumption. "Nor did he contribute to its managerial success."

Mr Abramovich's acquiring of the controlling interest in Sibneft at a relatively modest price came in return, he claimed, for support for President Yeltsin from Mr Berezovsky's television station, ORT, in the 1996 Presidential elections. Mr Abramovich in turn acknowledged the "debt of honour" he owed Mr Berezovsky, and made regular payments to him totalling millons of pounds. These payments, known as "krysha", or "roof", we might recognise as "refuge, or protection" said Mr Sumption, a service Mr Berezovsky provided along with his associate, the Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, who died suddenly and unexectedly at his Surrey mansion in 2008.

Mr Berezovsky "demanded more and more," Mr Sumption said. "Expenses on an exuberant scale - palaces in France, private aircraft, jewels for his girlfriends, valuable painting at Sotheby's."

After Mr Berezovksy fell out with President Putin and was forced into political exile in 2000, Mr Abramovich at made a payment of ￡1.3bn to Mr Berezovsky, which he claims was his "debt of honour", and bore no relation to Sibneft's prosperity. Mr Berezovsky claims the money represented a forced sale of his share in Sibneft at a knockdown price. In 2005, Mr Abramovich sold his share in SIbneft for ￡7.4bn, at the time the largest transaction in Russian history.

The most significant problem for Mrs Justice Gloster over the coming 12 weeks will be that there is little proper documentation to support either party's claims.

As Mr Sumption pointed out: "The agreement to sell television support to the President of Russia in return for the sale of state assets could never be recorded in writing. Of course not."