in 2013, akhmetov's legal representatives issued a press release in response to accusations in the media, which cited politicians and journalists, that implicated akhmetov in the 1996 murder of donetsk-based ukrainian oligarch yevhen shcherban. the official statement stated that they "have not found any proof suggesting that akhmetov was involved in scherban's or other businessmen's killings. to be honest, some of the businessmen killed in the 1990s were mr. akhmetov's close friends."