CONSTANTINVS MAXIMVS
07-15-2004, 05:13 PM
have fun protecting your ass in the Siberian prisonshowers jewboy :D
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3896507.stm
Yukos tycoon 'ran criminal group'
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40385000/jpg/_40385279_kho_body.jpg Mr Khodorkovsky (left) and Mr Lebedev are being tried together
Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was the head of a "criminal group" aiming to steal state property, prosecutors have argued at the billionaire's trial.
The prosecution is beginning to outline its case against Mr Khodorkovsky, who faces charges of fraud and tax evasion.
Mr Khodorkovsky is being tried along with Platon Lebedev, a fellow shareholder in his Yukos oil company.
Both men - who face up to 10 years in prison if convicted - pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Mr Khodorkovsky told a court in Moscow: "I plead not guilty to all the points on which I have been charged."
Risky business
According to the prosecution, Mr Khodorkovsky's business empire - which made him Russia's richest man - was little short of a gangster operation.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif Lebedev in 1994 joined the organised criminal group led by Mikhail Khodorkovsky with the aim of acquiring shares through deception http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif
Dmitry Shokhin, prosecutor
The current case centres on the 1994 privatisation of Apatit, a fertiliser firm which Mr Lebedev and Mr Khodorkovsky bought for $283m.
The men are alleged to have used deception in the purchase of Apatit, and to have hindered official attempts to overturn the sale.
Like his fellow "oligarchs", Mr Khodorkovsky built his empire in the hasty privatisation process of the early 1990s, a process that many argue was corrupt.
State prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin told the court that Mr Lebedev had "purchased the shares of the company Apatit by criminal ways through creating umbrella companies together with Khodorkovsky and other Yukos members".
He said: "Lebedev in 1994 joined the organised criminal group led by Mikhail Khodorkovsky with the aim of acquiring shares through deception of major Russian companies in the privatisation period."
Vendetta?
Mr Khodorkovsky's supporters, who include many prominent liberals, have argued that the case against him is politically motivated.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifKHODORKOVSKY: THE CHARGES
Theft with conspiracy
Malicious failure to obey a court order
Damage to property rights via fraud with conspiracy
Repeated corporate tax evasion with conspiracy
Personal tax or national insurance evasion
Repeated forgery of documents
Appropriation or embezzlement of property with conspiracy
Source: Reuters
They point to aggressive state action against both Mr Khodorkovsky and Yukos as evidence of some kind of Kremlin vendetta.
In parallel with Mr Khodorkovsky's criminal trial, Yukos is being asked for at least $3.4bn in apparently unpaid taxes - the result, the authorities say, of massive tax evasion at the beginning of this decade. The firm has tried various options for cutting a deal on its taxes, including distancing itself somewhat from Mr Khodorkovsky, still its main shareholder. But the state has proved reluctant to compromise, and Yukos fears it could be driven into bankruptcy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3896507.stm
Yukos tycoon 'ran criminal group'
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40385000/jpg/_40385279_kho_body.jpg Mr Khodorkovsky (left) and Mr Lebedev are being tried together
Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was the head of a "criminal group" aiming to steal state property, prosecutors have argued at the billionaire's trial.
The prosecution is beginning to outline its case against Mr Khodorkovsky, who faces charges of fraud and tax evasion.
Mr Khodorkovsky is being tried along with Platon Lebedev, a fellow shareholder in his Yukos oil company.
Both men - who face up to 10 years in prison if convicted - pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Mr Khodorkovsky told a court in Moscow: "I plead not guilty to all the points on which I have been charged."
Risky business
According to the prosecution, Mr Khodorkovsky's business empire - which made him Russia's richest man - was little short of a gangster operation.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif Lebedev in 1994 joined the organised criminal group led by Mikhail Khodorkovsky with the aim of acquiring shares through deception http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif
Dmitry Shokhin, prosecutor
The current case centres on the 1994 privatisation of Apatit, a fertiliser firm which Mr Lebedev and Mr Khodorkovsky bought for $283m.
The men are alleged to have used deception in the purchase of Apatit, and to have hindered official attempts to overturn the sale.
Like his fellow "oligarchs", Mr Khodorkovsky built his empire in the hasty privatisation process of the early 1990s, a process that many argue was corrupt.
State prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin told the court that Mr Lebedev had "purchased the shares of the company Apatit by criminal ways through creating umbrella companies together with Khodorkovsky and other Yukos members".
He said: "Lebedev in 1994 joined the organised criminal group led by Mikhail Khodorkovsky with the aim of acquiring shares through deception of major Russian companies in the privatisation period."
Vendetta?
Mr Khodorkovsky's supporters, who include many prominent liberals, have argued that the case against him is politically motivated.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifKHODORKOVSKY: THE CHARGES
Theft with conspiracy
Malicious failure to obey a court order
Damage to property rights via fraud with conspiracy
Repeated corporate tax evasion with conspiracy
Personal tax or national insurance evasion
Repeated forgery of documents
Appropriation or embezzlement of property with conspiracy
Source: Reuters
They point to aggressive state action against both Mr Khodorkovsky and Yukos as evidence of some kind of Kremlin vendetta.
In parallel with Mr Khodorkovsky's criminal trial, Yukos is being asked for at least $3.4bn in apparently unpaid taxes - the result, the authorities say, of massive tax evasion at the beginning of this decade. The firm has tried various options for cutting a deal on its taxes, including distancing itself somewhat from Mr Khodorkovsky, still its main shareholder. But the state has proved reluctant to compromise, and Yukos fears it could be driven into bankruptcy.