(Sky News) Roman Abramovich was not “directed” to buy Chelsea FC by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the High Court has heard.
The Russian billionaire’s lawyer told the High Court he is not Mr Putin’s “cashier” and did not purchase the club as part of a plot to corrupt the West.
Mr Abramovich, 54, is suing Catherine Belton and her publisher HarperCollins over her best-selling book Putin’s People: How The KGB Took Back Russia And Then Took On The West.
Ms Belton, the former Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times, alleges Mr Abramovich’s £150m purchase of Chelsea in 2003 was made on the orders of the Russian president.
