Duncan Gardham. "Gorbachev warns Chelsea boss"

Mikhail Gorbachev has called on Russian oligarchs to return their "plundered" wealth to their homeland.
Billionaires such as Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea Football Club, have banked and invested millions of roubles abroad from the former state-owned enterprises they bought cheaply 10 years ago.
"I do not want to undermine the motherland of soccer and I don't have a problem with a Russian buying shares in Britain but it is clear we should close the book on the period of plundering," the former Soviet president said in an interview.
"Some think trillion has been hidden away by Russian businessmen. If they don't return that, our courts are likely to decide they acquired it illegally. Then they couldn't use that money anywhere.
"One day it will be used for the benefit of Russia."
Mr Gorbachev was giving his backing to a plan by President Vladimir Putin to offer Russia's oligarchs an amnesty in return for the "repatriation" of their wealth. He accepted the plan was "risky" but said the businessmen should be reassured that they would not be heavily taxed in Russia.
Last week Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of Yukos Oil, was jailed for nine years for theft and tax evasion in what has been seen as a politically-motivated case.
"With his talent for tax-dodging he would have been behind bars in America long ago," said Mr Gorbachev.

The Daily Telegraph, June 6, 2005