There have been many interesting pointers to the possible sale of the London Evening Standard to the Russian oligarch, Alexander Lebedev. But none is surely as obvious as the revelation that his son, Evgeny, has set up a shell company called Evening Press Ltd.
The Financial Times reveals today that just over a month ago, on December 12 to be precise, Evening Press Ltd was registered at Companies House. Boasting a share capital of £40m, there was only one director: Lebedev Jnr.
The records also show that the company has two shareholders: the Tatler editor Geordie Greig, and would-be editor of the Standard; and the new media venture capital investor Justin Byam Shaw.
The company secretary is named as Alastair Tulloch, a lawyer who is also secretary of Lebedev Jnr's restaurant company, Cha Cha no Hana. And the Evening Press office is registered at Tulloch's company address in Mayfair.
