Wednesday, Jul. 24, 2002. Page 1
Soros Locked in Property Dispute
By Andrei Zolotov Jr.Staff Writer
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Financier George Soros' charity arm is embroiled in a bitter dispute over its headquarters in downtown Moscow, with both sides accusing the other of everything from breaking contracts to forging documents and threatening bodily harm. The long-brewing spat between Soros' Open Society Institute and its landlord came to a head Monday night when the landlord, Kantemir Karamzin, locked the gates of the mansion at 8 Ozerkovskaya Naberezhnaya and turned off its water. He said Tuesday that the foundation has refused to pay rent since August and has threatened him. After dozens of reporters had arrived, Karamzin opened the gates at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday and let out the handful of Soros employees who had been locked inside. The Open Society Institute said Karamzin was simply trying to make an easy buck. "Yes, we were unable to detect the swindlers in time," said Yekaterina Geniyeva, president of the Open Society Institute in Russia and director of the Library of Foreign Literature. "What these people want is money. They want Soros to pay more for this building." The foundation said it agreed in 1999 to buy the two-story building with 1,935 square meters for $1.4 million and signed a contract with the building's owner, Mark Richards, whom they identified as a citizen of Britain and Canada. It said Richards lacked the paperwork needed to register the sale, so it also signed a 10-year lease to rent the property for $12,000 a month, or $6.20 per square meter per month, with an option to buy the building. The foundation said it invested about $2 million in reconstructing the building after moving in in April 2000. However, a wrench was thrown into the plans when Karamzin bought the building from Richards last September. Karamzin said the Open Society Institute's option to buy the building expired Aug. 1, 2001. The foundation said any such contract was a forgery. In the meantime, Karamzin raised the rent to $50,000 a month and offered to sell the building to the foundation for $7 million. The Open Society balked. Yulia Nikulicheva, a research analyst with the Jones Lang LaSalle international real estate agency, said the market price for the building would be about $3 million to buy or about $56,000 a month to rent. Karamzin accused the foundation of forging documents and said it was not standing up to its proclaimed principles in its business practice. He said the institute's guards and lawyers have threatened him and that he locked the gates on Monday in an attempt to publicize the dispute and, thus, prevent being physically harmed. "Every time you begin talking to them they have one argument: Do you know who you are dealing with?" Karamzin said. About a dozen lawsuits have been filed in the feud. No rulings have yet been made. The Open Society's lawyer, Vladimir Khvalei, said Karamzin has not spoken the truth in court and to reporters. "It is much easier to forge documents than to prove in courts that documents have been forged," he said. Geniyeva said the principles of the Open Society and the rule of law are more important than the building itself. She said she spoke with Soros by telephone Monday and he ordered her to start looking for a new building. "What is most important for us is to continue our activities," she said. The Open Society has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in Russia supporting education, science, humanitarian organizations and government reform over the past 15 years. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2002/07/24/001.html |
