New Charges Brought Against Former YUKOS Chief

The investigation committee of the Russian General Prosecutor's Office has confirmed that it has brought new charges against the former head of YUKOS Mikhail Khodorkovsky and former MENATEP chief Platon Lebedev. Specifically, the Russian businessmen were charged with embezzling 350m tonnes of oil and laundering sums of money amounting to RUB 487bn (approx. USD 20.8bn), as well as USD 7.5bn.

The lawyers for Khodorkovsky have denied the charges, saying that these figures represented the entire amount of oil that YUKOS produced over six years of its operation. The prosecutors have made only minor amendments to the previous statement dated February 3, 2007, and the same contradictions and legally incorrect allegations remain there, the lawyers stressed.