The financial crisis may require that companies make sacrifices to protect themselves from ruin, but ‘this is ridiculous‘, says The Times of London.  The investor community is in an outrage over Sibir Energy’s latest move, already dubbed a ‘corporate scandal of the first class‘, and the latest blow to Russia’s already-sketchy record of investor appeal. 

Sibir’s shareholders have agreed to buy a portfolio of 10 property projects from Chalva Tchigirinski, the businessman who owns about 23% of the company.  His property projects, including hotels and skyscrapers, are worth roughly $340 million.  But Sibir’s projects, you’ll note, are in the energy sector, not the property sector – which seems the most obvious reason why the news caused the company’s value to halve almost immediately.