A Russian mobile phone tycoon - once reportedly worth £1.2 billion - arrested for allegedly denting an Uber driver’s bonnet with a drunken angry punch during an evening out with friends in Soho, walked free today.
Evgeny Chichvarkin, 43, who sold retail chain Yevroset for approximately £280m in September, 2008 always denied punching the white BMW, which he had booked.
He appeared at City of London Magistrates Court, where prosecutor Mr. Edward Cohen announced no evidence would be offered because the driver had failed to turn up.
The driver’s evidence was required to establish what damage, if any, had been caused.
Chichvarkin lives in exile at a £6.6m apartment in The Little Boltons, West Brompton and in August, 2012 he launched new venture, award-winning Hedonism Wines in Davies Street, Mayfair.
He pleaded not guilty to causing criminal damage to the three-litre vehicle, belonging to Lefter Petronel-Sebastian in Rupert Street on December 9, last year.
At an earlier hearing prosecutor Mr. Jonathan Bryan said: “The complainant is an Uber driver booked to take the defendant. The defendant didn’t arrive on time so the Uber driver drove off and stopped at the lights.
“The defendant tried to stop him and when he was told the booking had been cancelled in anger and frustration he bangs his fist down on the bonnet causing the dent.
“Two police officers did not see the incident, but one of them says he did hear a bang. The officers give evidence that he is drunk at the time.
“The complainant can say there is a dent there that was not there before.”
There are no pictures of the alleged damage and Chichvarkin can be heard on the officers’ body-worn cameras asking: “Where is the damage? I haven’t damaged the vehicle. Where’s the damage?”
He was arrested that evening and held in police custody overnight and questioned by police the next day.
The court heard Chichvarkin runs businesses and “invests heavily” in the UK and a criminal conviction would be “very damaging.”
He is the founder of Russia’s largest mobile phone retailer Yevroset and at one time was the richest man under thirty-five years-old in his country.
He was the winner of Ernst & Young’s ‘Entrepreneur of the Year 2005 and also received Russian awards including the ‘Order of Glory of Russia’ and ‘Order of glory of the Fatherland.’
Chichvarkin has lived in exile in London for the past decade, campaigning against Russian corruption and Vladimir Putin as a member of the Right Cause political party.
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