On Thursday...a...judge in London will rule whether a so-called vulture fund can extract more than $40m from Zambia for a debt which it bought for less than $4m. There are concerns that such funds are wiping out the benefits which international debt relief was supposed to bring to poor countries... Newsnight...[tried] to interview Paul Singer [principal of Elliott Capital Advisors]...who virtually invented vulture funds. In 1996 his company paid $11m for some discounted Peruvian debt and then threatened to bankrupt the country unless they paid $58m. They got their $58m. Now they're suing Congo Brazzaville for $400m for a debt they bought for $10m. We didn't get our interview. [also refers to Debt Advisory International, Greenberg Traurig]