Where's the Money»

Group Menatep has nearly $ 4.5 billion on hand the Open Russia foundation said in a statement on behalf of its chairman (and former head of the Yukos oil company) Mikhail Khodorkovskiy.

"This money has an absolutely transparent origin: dividends on shares and revenues from the sale of minor stakes to portfolio investors," Khodorkovskiy said. "The origin and size of this money were confirmed by annual external audit inspections. This money was invested, directly or through special institutions, mainly in Russian assets or granted to charity foundations. This money, belonging to structures affiliated with Group Menatep, has not been blocked or frozen. There is no other large money at the group's disposal," he said.

"I will let the Prosecutor-General's Office's absolutely false statement that my colleagues and I embezzled $5 billion from the state and that this money has been frozen in our personal accounts in Switzerland remain a matter of its own conscience," Khodorkovskiy said.

The statement was circulated in reply to a statement made by the Russian Prosecutor- General's Office claiming that some $5 billion deposited in personal bank accounts of Menatep shareholders had been frozen.