The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has been conducting a new investigation regarding former Yukos oil company head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his partners in Yukos for several years now, Russian media reported on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st May, 2019) The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has been conducting a new investigation regarding former Yukos oil company head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his partners in Yukos for several years now, Russian media reported on Friday.Khodorkovsky was arrested by law enforcement officers on October 25, 2003. On the same day, the Prosecutor General's Office said that Khodorkovsky was charged under several articles of the Russian Criminal Code, including fraud on a large scale, misappropriation and embezzlement, tax evasion and others.
According to investigators, Khodorkovsky gave instructions to Platon Lebedev, then chairman of the board of Menatep, a group of financial companies, regarding the theft of a 20-percent stake in Apatit, one of the leading manufacturers of fertilizers. Lebedev was also tasked to drive up prices for the company's products in the foreign markets. As a result of these operations the Russian state lost over $480 million, the investigators say.
Khodorkovsky and Lebedev also violated the tax legislation and did not pay some $556 million in taxes in 1999-2000.
Khodorkovsky was also accused of failing to pay 53 million rubles ($1.7 million) in income tax as well as insurance payments in 1998-1999. He is also said to have prepared false documents on providing consulting services for a foreign company and illegally received a license of a self-employed individual.
Lebedev was detained on July 2, 2003, on suspicion of stealing 20 percent of state-owned stake in Apatit worth $283.1 million. The criminal case was opened after checks carried out by the Prosecutor General's Office at the request of then senior lawmaker Vladimir Yudin.
Lebedev was charged under a number of articles of the Russian Criminal Code, including theft, failure to implement a court's verdict, tax evasion and others.
On April 1, 2004, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office published new details of the investigation, which showed Lebedev was a member of a criminal group that was created by Khodorkovsky and focused on seizing shares of Russian companies during the period of privatization through illegal means.
On June 8, 2004, a court in Moscow decided to unite the criminal cases against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, while the first hearing took place eight days later.
On May 31, 2005, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were sentenced to nine years imprisonment each. The court also made them pay 17.395 million rubles. Several months later Khodorkovsky's sentence was reduced to eight years. Both defendants were found guilty of violating seven articles of the Criminal Code, including fraud, theft of public funds, theft of apatite concentrate, failure to implement court verdicts and tax evasion.
On February 5, 2007, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev faced new accusations: embezzlement and money laundering. In addition, they were accused of legalizing stolen shares of subsidiaries of the Vostochnaya Oil Company in 1998-2000, as well as embezzlement by appropriating oil of JSC YUKOS subsidiaries in 1998-2004.
On March 31, 2009, the Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow began hearings on the second criminal case against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, who refuted all the new charges against them.
On December 30, 2010, the court sentenced Khodorkovsky and Lebedev to 14 more years in jail. So both criminals were going to be released in 2017. On May 24, 2011, the court reduced the sentences by one year.
Khodorkovsky served his sentence in a prison in the town of Segezha, Republic of Karelia, while Lebedev in the town of Velsk, Arkhangelsk Region.
The legal defense of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev filed appeals against the sentences but the court refused to revise the verdict.
On February 24, 2012, lawyers of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev filed a complaint to the Russian Supreme Court in an attempt to challenge the second verdict. The Supreme Court decided to restart proceedings on the second criminal case.
Given liberalization of the Russian legislation, the court decided to partially satisfy the legal defense's complaints and reduce the sentences for Khodorkovsky and Lebedev from 13 to 11 years. On August 6, 2013, the Russian Supreme Court reduced the sentences to 10 years and 10 months.
On December 19, 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that Khodorkovsky had asked for pardon. The relevant decree was signed by Putin on December 20, 2013, with the document having entered into force on the same day. On that day, Khodorkovsky was released from the prison.
Lawyers of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev also submitted several complaints to the European Court of Human Rights. In October 2007 and May 2011, the European Court of Human Rights made two verdicts making Russia to pay 10,000 Euros (over $11,000) Lebedev and Khodorkovsky, respectively, over their illegal detention. The court also decided that the verdict on making Khodorkovsky pay a multi-million fine was violating his rights.
In July 2013, the European Court of Human Rights did not recognize persecution of Lebedev and Khodorkovsky as politically motivated.
On January 23, 2014, the Russian Supreme Court considered both criminal cases of Lebedev and Khodorkovsky again. It decided to reduce the sentence for Lebedev, who was released on the next day. At the same time the court upheld the 17.4 billion rubles fine for Khodorkovsky.
The legal defense of Lebedev and Khodorkovsky expressed intention to continue struggle aimed at canceling tax claims as part of the first criminal case. The financial claims under the first case prevent Khodorkovsky from returning to Russia. According to media reports he currently lives in the United Kingdom.
