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Neutral Citation Number: [2012] EWHC 3586 (Comm)

Case No: 2006 FOLIO 1267
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
COMMERCIAL COURT

Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL

Date: 14/12/2012

Before :

MR JUSTICE CHRISTOPHER CLARKE
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Between :

| |NOVOSHIP (UK) LIMITED |Claimant |
| |and others | |
| |- and - | |
| |(1) VLADIMIR MIKHAYLYUK |Defendant |
| |(2) WILMER RUPERTI | |
| |(3) SEA PIONEER SHIPPING CORPORATION | |
| |(4) PMI TRADING INC | |
| |(6) YURI NIKITIN | |
| |(7) AMON INTERNATIONAL INC | |
| |(8) HENRIOT FINANCE LIMITED | |

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dominic Dowley QC, Charles Dougherty and Laura Crowley (instructed by Ince
& Co) for the Claimants
Mr Mikhaylyuk did not attend
Nigel Eaton (instructed by Holman Fenwick Willan) for the 2nd - 4th
Defendants did not attend
Steven Berry QC and Nathan Pillow (instructed by Lax & Co) for the 6th -
8th Defendants

Hearing dates: 16th, 17th 21st - 24th, 28th - 31st May, 12th and 13th June,
2nd - 5th July

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Judgment Approved by the court
for handing down
(subject to editorial corrections)

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|Subject |Paragraphs|
|The parties |1 - 10 |
|The claims |11 - 18 |
|History of the proceedings |19 - 25 |
|Mirador Shipping and Pulley Shipping |26 - 69 |
|The PDVSA Charters and the rival cases |70 - 75 |
| The law |76 - 112 |
| The facts |113 - 165 |
| The explanations |166 - 175 |
|Conclusion |176 |
| Further consideration of Mr Mikhaylyuk's |177 - 196 |
|explanation | |
|The secret payments made to Mr Ruperti's |197 -251 |
|companies | |
|and the Misha Fu account | |
|The payments to Amon |252 - 260 |
|The payment to Mirador Shipping |261 - 268 |
|The payments to Pulley Shipping |269 - 297 |
|What do the payments represent |298 - 300 |
|The underperformance claim and the house |301 - 307 |
|purchase | |
|Explanations for the Amon payments , |308 - 404 |
|discussion | |
|and conclusions | |
|The claims arising out of the PDVSA |405 - 418 |
|charters | |
|The damages claim in respect of the |419 - 449 |
|Sorokaletie Pobedy | |
|The claims in respect of the Amon payments |450 - 452 |
|The Henriot Finance claims |453 - 534 |
|The Stena Charter claims |535 - 569 |
|The ACM Shipping claim |570 - 588 |
|The Tula payments |589 - 605 |
|The Compromise Agreement |606 - 612 |
|Documents |613 |
|Summary |614 - 616 |
|Annex |1 - 46 |









































MR JUSTICE CHRISTOPHER CLARKE:


1. This action concerns the activities of the First Defendant, Mr
Vladimir Mikhaylyuk ("Mr Mikhaylyuk"). He was from 1 September 1997
employed by the First Claimant, Novoship (UK) Ltd ("NOUK"), as its
Deputy Chartering Manager and from 1 December 1999 as Commercial
Manager. On 18 October 2002 he was appointed Acting General Manager,
whilst remaining Commercial Manager, and on 23 May 2003 he was
formally appointed General Manager, in which position he remained
until 24 March 2006, when he was dismissed. He was appointed a
director of NOUK on 5 November 2003 and remained one until his
dismissal.


The Claimants


2. NOUK acted, at the times with which this action is concerned, as the
agent and manager of a number of one-ship companies, including the
second to fifteenth Claimants. All the Claimants are indirect
subsidiaries of JSC Novorossiysk Shipping Company ("NSC" or
"Novoship") a company incorporated in the Russian Federation. NOUK's
issued share capital is held by Intrigue Shipping Inc ("Intrigue"), a
Liberian company, which, itself, is wholly owned by NSC. NSC is now
majority owned by OAO Sovcomflot, a shipping company incorporated in
the Russian Federation which is wholly owned by the Russian State. The
Group has one of the largest tanker fleets in the world.


Personnel at NSC


3. From November 2001 until 14 October 2005 the President of NSC was Mr
Tagir Izmaylov. Mr Vladimir Sakovich was from 27 October 1995 to 12
October 2007 Senior Vice President of NSC responsible for overall
supervision of the chartering of the NSC fleet. He was a member of the
NSC Executive Board from 24 May 1993 to 12 October 2007, a director of
Intrigue from 6 March 2002 to 15 October 2007, and a Director of NOUK
from 12 November 2001 to 10 January 2006. Mr Vladimir Oskirko was
until the end of December 2003, when he left to join a start up
venture, the Vice President of Finance and Planning. He was, also, a
member of the NSC Executive Board and a director of Intrigue and NOUK.
He returned to NSC in December 2005 and was a Vice President from
January 2006.


4. The Claimants allege that Mr Mikhaylyuk dishonestly solicited and
received bribes for himself and others during the course of his
employment in connection with four areas of chartering business in
respect of which they have the following claims:


a) The PDVSA Charter claims;


b) The Henriot Finance Charter claims


c) The Stena Charter claims


d) The Tula Charter claims.


The Defendants


Mr Mikhaylyuk


5. The Defendants may be divided into three groups. First there is Mr
Mikhaylyuk. He is resident in this country. He has filed extensive
pleadings and several statements, which appear to have been
professionally drafted. He also submitted a response to the Claimants'
opening. But, although he appeared at a directions hearing shortly
before the trial, he has not been present at any stage during the
trial itself. He claimed to be unwell but he has declined to seek an
adjournment of the trial or to provide any medical evidence. He has
put in his witness statements but has not been prepared to be cross
examined on them. Whilst I have had regard to what is said in those
statements, they are worth very little in circumstances where his
evidence raises many questions and he has denied the Claimants the
opportunity of asking any of them.


The Ruperti defendants


6. Next there are Mr Wilmer Ruperti, the Second Defendant and two
Panamanian corporations of which he is the beneficial owner and
controller namely Sea Pioneer Shipping Corporation ("Sea Pioneer"), a
Panamanian company, which is the Third Defendant, and PMI Trading Inc
("PMI Trading"), also a Panamanian company, which is the Fourth
Defendant. Mr Ruperti is a Venezuelan businessman who owns and
controls a number of companies including Maroil Trading Inc, Nautica
Shipbrokers C.A., Interpetrol & Trafigura de Venezuela S.A., which in
late 2004 became Interpetrol S.A. and Wisteria Enterprises Ltd. Other
Ruperti companies are Suramericana de Transporte Petroleo S.A. and
Global Shipmangement Inc. Another company is Maritima Altair-Petromar
("Maritima"), which appears to have been related to Mr Ruperti in some
way and to have acted either as an intermediary between Mr Ruperti or
his companies and PDVSA (see para 11 (ii) below) or as a broker for
PDVSA. The Ruperti defendants have filed extensive pleadings and
supplied (but not put in evidence) witness statements. But none of
them has taken any part in the trial.


The Nikitin defendants


7. Thirdly, there is Mr Yuri Nikitin, the Sixth Defendant, and two
British Virgin Island