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Russian oil tycoon on trial for fraud
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Russian oil tycoon on trial for fraud
The fraud trial of Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky has resumed as YUKOS, the oil giant of which he is the main owner, comes up with a new offer to stop the state seizing its assets for unpaid taxes.
YUKOS’s new chief executive, Stephen Theede, was reported to have offered the government $7.5 billion (4 billion pounds) over three years to cover the tax arrears. But the government was said to be cool to the idea.
“We in the government don’t see much sense (in this proposal),” Vedomosti newspaper yesterday quoted a government source. Khodorkovsky’s trial for fraud and tax evasion is one of the most significant in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union, and represents the centre piece of a crackdown on billionaire businessmen.
The so-called “oligarchs” carved off huge slices of Russian industry in shady privatisations, and exercised considerable political influence in the late 1990s, but President Vladimir Putin has reined them in.
YUKOS missed a deadline for repayment of $3.4 billion in arrears on July 7 and analysts said the total bill could rise to $10 billion.
In line with Russian court practice, Khodorkovsky, 41, will watch the court proceedings from inside a metal cage. Alongside him will be close associate and fellow defendant Platon Lebedev.
Khodorkovsky’s personal fortune of over $15 billion made him Russia’s richest man, but it was his funding of liberal opposition parties that many say has caused his downfall. Police seized him in October on charges many see as a punishment for his political ambitions by a Kremlin that shows little tolerance of a viable opposition.
YUKOS’s tax bill now totals nearly $7 billion and it faces a possible rapid sell-off of its assets. Its future depends on whether Khodorkovsky and a small core of shareholders can strike a deal that would almost certainly see them relinquish control.
The uncertainty around YUKOS and recent bank failures have tarnished Putin’s image as the architect of Russia’s economic stability after the tumultuous 1990s, and could threaten future foreign investment. Putin has pledged to try to prevent YUKOS’s collapse but the firm has continued to come under attack.
<B>Mikhail Yenukov</B>
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