Even the wise can slip up. So, an official statement. As part of an experiment requesting Board of Directors meeting minutes from various companies, I praised some companies and criticized others. Among those I criticized was Gazprom Neft, for allegedly refusing to provide the minutes and thereby violating shareholders’ rights.
I criticized it both on the blog and in a column for Forbes (in fact, all of this was done as part of a project with Forbes). And recently it turned out that Gazprom Neft was entirely blameless in this case. That is, I have a ton of complaints about them, but on entirely different grounds. They were actually among the first to send a letter saying they were ready to provide everything. Either I or my assistant, who was handling the matter, buried the letter in a pile of papers and duly lost it. Then, fully in line with our standard procedure, we filed complaints with the prosecutor’s office and the FSFM (Federal Service for Financial Markets), and sued Gazprom Neft in commercial court. Investigations started everywhere. And then—bam—I found the letter. We really messed up. Of course, letters withdrawing the complaints have already been sent everywhere, and an apology has been sent to Gazprom Neft. But as it stands, I criticized them publicly and am apologizing privately. So, I apologize to Gazprom Neft for the unfounded criticism. At the same time, I apologize to the readers of http://www.forbesrussia.ru/, whom I badly misled (though without any malicious intent!). I am virtually sprinkling my virtual head with virtual ashes.