Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former boss of the Yukos oil empire, and his ex-business associate Platon Lebedev have been formally charged with laundering more than $23 billion (BD8.67bn)
"The prosecution service has charged Khodorkovsky and Lebedev with illegal acquisition of shares belonging to the State, as well as theft of oil and laundering of the money accruing from the sale of that oil," an official statement said.
It said the two men had acted in an organised criminal conspiracy in acquiring shares of the Vostochnaya Neftianaya oil company in November 1998 and putting them into foreign offshore companies.
"Between 1998 and 2003 Khodorkovsky and Lebedev stole oil from the Samaraneftegaz, Yuganskeneftegaz and Tomskneftgaz companies worth more than 850 billion roubles," the prosecution service alleged.
This oil was then sold on, it added, accusing the pair of laundering a total of 450 million roubles (BD6bn) and $7.5 billion between 1998 and 2004.
The statement detailed for the first time the charges laid against the jailed former tycoon which prompted him to slam the politicised court system in Russia as a "shameful farce."
"What will follow is clear," he said. "Falsified evidence, testimony by perjurers who have been frightened or tricked, and a quick guilty verdict - a shameful farce that has nothing in common with justice."
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=169767&Sn=WORL&IssueID=29327
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