OREANDA-NEWS. On June 29, 2009 Sistema (LSE: SSA), the largest diversified public financial corporation in Russia and the CIS, which manages large companies operating in different industries, announced the decisions made at the Annual General Meeting of its shareholders (the “AGM”) on June 27, 2009, reported the press-centre of Sistema.

The Board of Directors was expanded from 10 to 13 members. The AGM approved the election of three new members to the Board of Directors: Leonid Melamed, President and CEO of Sistema, Rajiv Mehrotra, member of the Board of Directors of Sistema Shyam Teleservices, Robert Kocharyan, an independent director. The Board of Directors, therefore, comprises 4 independent non-executive directors and consists of 13 members.
 
The shareholders approved the election of the members of the Board of Directors as follows:
 
Alexander Goncharuk
Alexander Gorbatovsky
Vladimir Evtushenkov
Ron Sommer 
Dmitry Zubov
Vyacheslav Kopiev
Robert Kocharyan
Leonid Melamed
Rajiv Mehrotra
Evgeny Novitsky
Stephan Newhouse
Robert Skidelsky
Sergey Cheremin
 
At the statutory Board meeting following the AGM, the Board of Directors appointed Vladimir Evtushenkov as Chairman.
 
The AGM approved the Company’s Annual Report and annual financial statements for 2008. The AGM also made a decision not to pay dividends for 2008.
 
Gorislavtsev and K. Audit was appointed as Sistema’s Russian Accounting Standards auditor for 2009, and Deloitte & Touche CIS was appointed as Sistema’s US GAAP auditor for 2009. The AGM also elected the Audit Committee.
 
Robert Kocharyan was born in 1954 in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. From 1998 to 2008, Mr. Kocharyan was the President of Armenia. Prior, from 1997 to 1998, he served as Prime Minister of Armenia. From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Kocharyan was President of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. From 1992 to 1994, he served as Chairman of the State Defense Committee and Prime Minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. In 1991, he was elected a deputy of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic's Supreme Soviet of the first convocation. In 1989 and in 1990, Mr. Kocharyan was a deputy of Armenia’s Supreme Soviet and member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. Prior to that, he worked in Stepanakert’s electro-technical plant and occupied various posts in Nagorno Karabakh’s youth communist and party organisations. In 1982, Robert Kocharyan graduated from Yerevan Polytechnic Institute.
 
Rajiv Mehrotra was born in 1954. Mr. Mehrotra is a founder of Shyam Group of India, where he serves as Chairman and Managing Director. He was also instrumental in establishing Shyam Telecom, one of the leading providers of mobile communications solutions. Mr. Mehrotra is also one of the founders of Shyam Telelink (now Sistema Shyam Teleservices), one of the first CDMA 2000 mobile network operators in India. He actively cooperates with the Association of Basic Telecom Operators, and is a member of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) Telecom Committee. Mr. Mehrotra is a member of the Board of Directors of Sistema Shyam Teleservices.