OREANDA-NEWS. October 01, 2012. Members of VTB Bank Shareholders Consultative Council (SCC) have met at the Bank’s headquarters and discussed the oil drilling rigs of VTB Leasing, reported the press-centre of VTB.

The meeting was attended by First Deputy President and Chairman of the Management Board Vasily Titov, VTB Leasing Chief Executive Officer Andrey Konoplyov and Chief Financial Officer of VTB Leasing Kirill Aladyshev. The discussion during the meeting dispelled any doubts that SCC members might have had about the problem at hand. All the people responsible for closing that not very efficient deal have been fired.

The meeting participants heard reports about the trip that shareholders took on September 4-6, 2012 to the Orenburg Region and the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area to see 18 of the rigs in action, as well as pictures of the other eight rigs. They also visited VTB Leasing’s equipment storage area in the town of Purpe, where four rigs are temporarily being stored.

During the trip and after it, VTB shareholders, journalists and bloggers were provided with comprehensive information on the history of this leasing deal as well as agreements and other financial and legal documents. All interested parties were reassured that each of the oil rigs is going to make a profit for VTB and its shareholders. VTB Group executives spoke openly at the meeting and answered all the questions that the shareholders asked.

“This meeting finally drew a line under a long and heated oil rig debate,” Titov said. “We have demonstrated that we are open to dialogue by inviting the bank’s shareholder and famous blogger Alexei Navalny to attend this meeting. All the questions of Alexei were answered, while all the answers were supported by relevant documents. The management and shareholders of VTB Group also had a chance to ask Mr. Navalny everything we wanted to know about his own role in the oil rig deal. We are satisfied that the meeting helped to eliminate our shareholders’ doubts about all the aspects of that deal.”