Fra historien vet vi at makt og penger søker hverandre. Historien om Oleg Deripaska og Peter Mandelson gir et forbløffende innblikk i hvordan rulleblad ikke har noen betydning. En britisk domstol fant i sommer at Deripaska har vært involvert med en av de mektigste gangstere i Russland.

Normalt skulle en britisk politiker holde seg på lang avstand av en fyr som Deripaska. Men tydeligvis har makt og penger en uimotståelige gjensidig tiltrekning. Han er ikke alene om det.

Mandelson har i mange år vært venn med Nathan Rotschild, et svart får i bankierfamilien som etterhvert ble en betydelig finansmann. Rotschild-familien kom også til å gjøre forretninger med Deripaska. Det sier litt om hvordan russiske oligarker er infiltrert i britisk finansverden. Dette får selvsagt også politiske konsekvenser.

A High Court judgment details the alleged social and business links between Oleg Deripaska and Anton Malevsky, a Russian mobster. Malevsky was then reputedly the head of an organised crime gang and his brother Andrei had a 10% stake in Deripaska’s company.

Deripaska insists that the arrangement with Malevsky was a protection racket that was forced upon him. But a High Court judge, Mr Justice Clarke, said in a preliminary judgment in July that he considers Deripaska may not have always told the full truth about his links to the mobster, who was killed in a freak parachute accident in 2001.

Rotschild hadde øye for nye talenter innen Labour, og Mandelson utmerket seg. Han kunne vært en renessansepolitiker, med sans for kunst og penger.

Mandelson was first introduced to Lord (Jacob) Rothschild over 15 years ago when he was just gaining influence as an architect of the emerging New Labour. As an important patron of the arts, Rothschild already had plenty of contacts across the political parties. As well as being chairman of the National Gallery and the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Rothschild was put in charge of distributing the proceeds of the National Lottery to the heritage sector, an influential post which oversaw the distribution of £1.2 billion.

Bekjentskapene sier noe om hvordan dagens finanskrise kunne oppstå: kreative hjerner og folk med gode kontakter kunne reise milliarder til hedgefond. Nathan Rotschild var en slik figur. Spekulanter tiltrekkes av spekulanter, og Oleg Deripaska var en av de største.

At the time, Rothchild’s only son Nat, was struggling. After Eton and Oxford, where he’d been a member of the Bullingdon Club with Osborne, Nat decided to travel. He met model and socialite Annabelle Neilson on a beach in India and eloped to Las Vegas to marry. In the mid-1990s, Rothschild appeared in New York, apparently recovering from drug addition.

Friends ensured he was invited to all the parties but the ‘set’ remember him as a loner who sat in the corner who was «not at all Rothschild.»

But within a few years this had changed. Nat had not only developed his own financial career but had also struck up many contacts with the new breed of Russian oligarchs with his father.

Nat also met David Slager, a financial genius, with whom he helped set up the hedge fund Atticus Capital: Nat used his charm to secure money from investors which Slager then managed. It proved a winning formula, catapulting Atticus into one of the most powerful funds in the world and Nat into new riches.

Throughout this time a firm bond was formed between Nat and Mandelson, to whom had been introduced by Lady Rothschild in the early 1990s.

The politician, the arts patron and hedge fund manager have remained firm friend for years, united by ambition, a gift for networking and a passion for rich and famous people.

Nå er alle under press. Russiske investorer trekker pengene ut av Atticus-fondet, og Deripaska selv skal være i problemer.

Speculation raged that Nat’s finances were under pressure. With the Russian stock market collapse, some of the oligarchs whom Nat advised were struggling financially while Atticus was also performing badly. Rumours had been swirling in the markets that the fund, which is down 45% this year, was close to collapse because Nat’s Russian contacts were brutally withdrawing their money. But Atticus has said that it does not rely on Russian investors and is not threatened by redemptions but rather has distanced itself from its co-chairman.

Mandelson, som nylig ble adlet til Lord Mandelson, vil med nødvendighet møte seg selv i døren. Deripaska skal etter sigende arbeide for refinansiering av et lån på 4,5 milliard dollar. Han har henvendt seg til vestlige banker, og en av bankene er Royal Bank of Scotland, som er delvis overtatt av staten. Mandelson sitter i styret som skal vurdere bankens utlån, og må be seg fritatt.

Man er fristet til å sitere Dylan: When money doesn’t talk, it swears.

Art, politics and money: Peter Mandelson and Nat Rothschild’s long-lasting friendship

Peter Mandelson oligarch Oleg Deripaska linked to mafia boss