"When you have so much money, you can buy everything. But you cannot buy the French justice system. You will have to submit to its rules. The budget of the French justice system is less than the sum diverted by Mr Ablyazov from the Russian Federation alone."
Solange Legras, prosecutor in Aix-en-Provence, at the extradition hearing for bank fraudster Mukhtar Ablyazov
(see The hunt for Mukhtar Ablyazov: Banker, criminal, fugitive, victim?)
"You are finished, Mukha. You have deceived the brothers and stolen our joint stash, and this means death, bro. For real"
An anonymous letter sent to Ablyazov before he fled the UK – he claims it shows he is being persecuted, and should not be prosecuted
(see The hunt for Mukhtar Ablyazov: Banker, criminal, fugitive, victim?)
"I personally am not in favour of speedy privatization, because I see no advantages of this at the moment. Nobody can tell me what is bad about being partly state-owned – nobody."
Andrey Kostin, CEO of Russia’s VTB, is adamant there’s no downside to partial state ownership
(see Andrey Kostin: The face of Russian capitalism)
"We had become active in proprietary trading, in derivatives, in hedge fund investment; products which are not in our DNA. We had to exit all of those activities"
Michel Accad, former CEO of Gulf Bank, on the scale of restructuring he achieved