LONDON (AFP) - Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich paid billions of dollars for political favours and in protection fees to build up his fortune, British newspaper The Times said Saturday, citing court papers. Abramovich paid older oligarchs so he could get a share of Russia's oil and aluminium assets -- and to escape unharmed from the post-Soviet carve-up, the daily said. It was the first time Abramovich had explained in his own words how, within a few years, he managed to amass a fortune estimated at 11.4 billion pounds (22.6 billion dollars) and emerged triumphant after the "aluminium wars" in which more than 100 people are thought to have been killed in gangland violence, said The Times. The newspaper said it was quoting from a 52-page defence document in Abramovich's court battle with Boris Berezovsky, his old mentor and...
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