The Norebo conflict is a court case ongoing since 2018 in the High Court of Justice in London, UK about a shareholding in Russian fishing company Norebo, one of the biggest Russian fishing enterprises. In 2018, the court accepted a lawsuit of Alexander Tugushev, formerly Vitaly Orlov’s and Magnus Roth's business partner, against both of them and their employee Andrey Petrik.
Premises
Tugushev claims that Orlov and Roth, in the early 2000s, unlawfully acquired shares of a company called Almor Atlantica, which later was incorporated into Norebo. Orlov claims that Tugushev disposed of his shares to become a high-ranked Russian official — the deputy head of a Russian governmental committee called Goskomrybolovstvo — the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Fishing. Tugushev’s position included authority to allot fishing quotas that belonged to the Russian Federation. According to Russian law, no shareholding in commercial entities is allowed for such officials. In July 2003, the significant reform of the fishing quota system in Russia started to eliminate the authority of Goskomrybolovstvo state committee to allot fishing quotas. The head of Goskomrybolovstvo Aleksandr Moyseev invited Tugushev to join the committee to help in reforming the quotas system. In September 2003, Tugushev was appointed as the deputy head of Moyseev. In June 2004, Tugushev was arrested while he headed a commission to liquidate the Goskomrybolovstvo state committee and charged with the bribe of $ 3.7 million received from Pollux fish company. The police claimed that Pollux management was expecting to get a larger fish quotas than it received from Goskomrybolovstvo state committee, headed by Tugushev at that time. In February 2007, a court found Tugushev guilty and received six years in prison. In 2009 he was released from prison on parole and returned to the management in Norebo. Tugushev claims that conviction was politically motivated. Several years later, he signed a settlement agreement with Polluks' owner Sergei Alexandrov in respect of their civil claim. Shortly thereafter he made a claim against Orlov, Roth and Andrey Petrik. In 2015, the conflict between Orlov and Tugushev underwent a severe escalation. Orlov made allegations of extortion and telephone threats. Tugushev filed a criminal complaint accusing Orlov of fraud. criminal proceedings were commenced on 25 July 2018. The first proceedings were commenced on 24 November 2015 at Koptevskiy court apparently by Mr Tugushev. Tugushev says that this was sham litigation instigated by Mr Orlov to obstruct and destroy claims of Tugushev.
Related criminal investigations
In 2016, Orlov complained to the police about receiving the threatening telephone calls from someone possibly acting on behalf of Tugushev. Later the one who called Orlov was identified as Mr Dzhamaldaev. The police put Tugushev under house arrest the same year, however Tugushev denied any links to Dzhamaldaev. In December 2017, the investigation was closed with Tugushev found not linked with the Dzhamaldaev. In 2016, Tugushev also made criminal complaints against Orlov in Russia accusing him of fraud which resulted in criminal proceedings commenced on 25 July 2018. Both complaints were based on the allegation that Orlov had unlawfully obtained Tugushev’s stake in Norebo. As part of these proceedings, Norebo and the related persons have been subjected to several police raids between 26 and 28 September 2018, in which large quantities of documents were collected. Tugushev also convicted Orlov in falsification of documents submitted to the Murmansk court.
Proceedings
In 2018, Tugushev filed a claim over third-part of Norebo to High Court of Justice. In 2019 the High Court of England & Wales confirmed that it has jurisdiction to hear the case between Tugushev and Orlov. In May 2019, Orlov submitted a claim to Murmansk Court objecting against jurisdiction of English court in dispute with Tugushev, however in January 2020, Murmansk court dismissed the claim. In early 2020, Magnus Roth supported the position of Tugushev and accepted that Tugushev is legally entitled to 33% of all Norebo assets. The case is continuing as of May 2020.
