Indictment of Private Investigators Hired by Oleg Deripaska's Aide to Spy on Michael Cherney

TEL AVIV, Israel, September 20, 2010 - On Sunday, Tel Aviv Magistrates Court charged two private investigators,
Rafael Pridan and Maxim Gurevich, with the illegal wiretapping of Businessman
Michael Cherney. The two had been hired by an aide to Russian aluminum tycoon
Oleg Deripaska, Cherney's ex-partner.

According to the indictment, in April 2007 Alexei Drobashenko (Director
of the "Eurasian Group", one of Deripaska's companies) turned to a previously
convicted Israeli radical activist Avigdor Eskin, with an offer to conduct a
smear campaign to discredit Michael Cherney. Eskin has introduced Drobashenko
to PIs Aviv Mor and Rafael Pridan who had been earlier stripped of his
Private investigator license. From May to October 2007 Eskin, Mor, and Pridan
met several times in Moscow with Drobashenko, who wanted to dig for any
compromising information on Mr Cherney. The detectives conducted surveillance
of Mr Cherney and illegal wiretaps of his line for about 6 months.

After being arrested in November 2007 Rafi Pridan was charged
yesterday with illegal actions in private investigation, illegal wiretapping,
and illegal use of obtained materials. Avi Mor, another private investigator
involved, cut a deal with the Prosecution last January. For the illegal
surveillance of Mr Cherney, he was sentenced to six months of communal
service and eight months of suspended jail time.

Michael Cherney claims that a smear campaign against him was launched by
his ex-partner in aluminum trading Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. In early
2007 Mr Cherney filed a suit in UK against Deripaska for $3 billion for
violating their contract; Mr Cherney believes that this caused Deripaska to
launch a smear campaign, including illegal wiretapping.

In February 2008 Mr Cherney filed a suit in Tel Aviv's District Court
against Deripaska and eight other people, demanding a compensation of 10
million shekels (about $3 million) for moral damages suffered in the smear
campaign. Among the respondents are also Eurasian Group's General Director
Alexei Drobashenko and reporter Andrey Kalitin.

Contact: jmorgan@bell-pottinger.co.uk

Contact: Jennifer Morgan, +44(0)7909-975-039, jmorgan at bell-pottinger.co.uk .