Yukos Kingpin on Trial by Lucy Komisar, Special to CorpWatch May 10th, 2005
In mid-May a Moscow court will issue a verdict in the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the figure behind Yukos Oil, who was once known as Russia's richest man. Khodorkovsky, who a few years ago was worth more than $15 billion, is on trial for fraud and tax evasion, much of it made possible through the use of offshore shell companies.
Khodorkovsky has been in prison since 2003, when he was charged with embezzlement and for rigging a privatization auction of the petrochemical company, Apatit. Some critics argue that Khodorkovsky is being held up as a symbol of Russia's ruling class of exorbitantly wealthy businessmen, and that his trial is politically motivated. Senator John McCain - in a recent statement before the Senate - likened the charges against the young oligarch to the overthrow of a government saying, "a creeping coup against the forces of democracy and market capitalism in Russia is threatening the foundation of the U.S.-Russia relationship.”
But Western corporations and, by extension, the Western media may in fact be equally motivated to obscure the facts and make Khodorkovsky into a capitalist martyr.
Born in 1963, Khodorkovsky is an attractive man who favors aviator glasses. He went to university in Moscow and received an advanced degree in chemistry. Politically active at university, he was the deputy secretary for Young Communists League of Moscow’s Frunze district. He was named head of the local technology business center under perestroika and turned a profit by reselling computers. He then used the cash he made to provide financial services to the first Russian entrepreneurs -- organized crime groups. The service changed rubles into dollars and transferred them abroad via offshore accounts.
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12236
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