"Alfa's filing is a clear and inadequate attempt to try to rectify its previous false and misleading filing with the SEC regarding its forward purchase of VimpelCom ADRs filed on September 6th. Alfa still has not disclosed whether these ADRs were purchased before VimpelCom's second quarter results were publicly disclosed, at a time when Alfa executives knew these results. Alfa's agreement with Jam Holding is dated August 30th, two days before VimpelCom's Q2 results were disclosed. There was a high volume of trading in VimpelCom ADRs during those two days.
In addition, since Alfa has now disclosed it has beneficial ownership of the ADRs under this contract, and is obligated to take delivery of these ADRs by January 1, there is a question as to whether Alfa is currently in violation of the applicable Russian anti-monopoly law."

Because Alfa's contract is a forward purchase agreement, Alfa was required by US securities laws to promptly disclose its beneficial ownership of the ADRs subject to the agreement. In contrast, under the cash settled total return equity swap Telenor entered into with ING in June 2006, Telenor has no beneficial ownership of the underlying ADRs, and no right to obtain the ADRs.