MOSCOW, January 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russian
businessman and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich has launched
legal proceedings against Times Newspapers Limited over a
January 18 Sunday Times article that said he was looking to
sell the club.
The club's official website announced that legal
proceedings had begun in the High Court. Chelsea FC are also a
claimant in the legal case.
A statement on the Chelsea website said that Abramovich
had no intention of selling the club.
"Mr Abramovich has already made quite clear, through the
directors of Chelsea, that he has no intention of doing so and
that neither he nor anyone upon his behalf has been pursuing
any such course of action," read the statement.
Quoting "Gulf sources," the Times article in question said
that "representatives of the oligarch have travelled to Saudi
Arabia and Dubai to elicit interest in the club."
Abramovich's wealth has fallen sharply amid the ongoing
global financial crisis. The Bloomberg news agency estimated in
October that the oligarch had "lost $20 billion, based on
assets excluding property and cash."
The former governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Area in
Russia's Far East bought Chelsea in 2003. The side has won the
English Premier League twice since then.
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