[lbo-talk] Yukos under fire

[Chris Doss]

The Prosecutor General’s Office is prepared to deliver yet another blow to 
the embattled oil major YUKOS. Prosecutors said on Tuesday that they had 
ordered an investigation after a statement by a top executive from 
state-controlled Rosneft on the alleged misappropriation of a 19-percent 
stake in Yeniseineftegaz. Yesterday Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, US 
ambassador Alexander Vershbow and the Russian Federal Property Fund came to 
the defence of YUKOS.
After having waited for 5 hours on Tuesday the defence lawyer of Platon 
Lebedev – chairman of the Menatep Group that manages YUKOS’ finances – was 
allowed to meet with his client for the first time since his detention last 
Wednesday. The meeting lasted 35 minutes.
In an interview with the Financial Times, YUKOS chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky 
said none of the proceedings against YUKOS' shareholders and employees were 
legally justifiable.
''The fact that prosecutors initiated unconnected proceedings against 
employees and shareholders of one company within six weeks and the fact that 
they publicised their actions makes me think that these cases exist outside 
a legal framework,'' he said.
However, Khodorkovsky, who had declared his financial support for Russia's 
opposition parties ahead of the parliamentary elections in December, said he 
was not prepared to comment on the political background of these 
proceedings. ''I don't want to move over to the territory of political 
commentary because I don't see any profit there for myself and my business, 
whereas I do see harm from such a move,'' he said.
The latest attack on Yukos, he said, threatened to upset the informal 
agreement between big business and the Kremlin not to revisit the 
controversial privatisations of the 1990s - so long as Russia's tycoons kept 
out of politics. ''I very much hope that those forces within the 
presidential administration that want to change those principles are not 
going to find support from the president,'' he said.

During his visit to Yakutsk, Siberia’s diamond-mining province on Tuesday, 
Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said that the arrest of Platon Levedev was 
''unjustified'' and ''excessive''. ''It is not right to arrest someone for 
economic-related crimes,'' the premier said. ''There are enough crimes 
committed that actually threaten people’s lives and to which such measures 
[as arrest] should be applied,'' he added. Some observers perceived the PM’s 
statement as a reprimand for the unjustified interference in the economy by 
''people in epaulettes''.

Etc.

http://www.gazeta.ru/2003/07/09/Prosecutorsc.shtml

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