Alexander Temerko, former vice president and deputy board chairman at YUKOS
Photo: Ilya Pitalev
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Russia Attracts British Lawyer to Get Extradition for YUKOS Official
The Magistrates’ Court of London launched preliminary inquiry into the case of Alexander Temerko, former vice president and deputy board chairman at YUKOS. Russia’s prosecutors claim Temerko defrauded the stake of 19.7 percent in Yeniseineftegaz in 2002. Lawyer for the Russian government, U.K. Peter Caldwell vowed to prove the absence of political background in YUKOS prosecution.
The extradition case for Alexander Temerko was admitted by Judge Timothy Workman. In March, he refused to extradite to Russia Dmitry Maruyev, former deputy chief accountant of YUKOS, and Natalia Chernysheva, former head of the regional business department at Rosprom, saying they would have no fair trial in Russia.
Half a year later, the same judge refused to extradite Alexander Gorbachev, general director at Apatit-Trade. Gorbachev allegedly conspired with Mikhail Khodorkovsky to sell product of Murmansk Apatit at higher prices.
At present Mr Workman has to decide on the third case related to YUKOS but the first one concerning top officials of the company – Alexander Temerko is the former deputy chairman of the YUKOS board.
As the trial is apparently of top priority for Russia’s authorities, it was decided to hire a British lawyer, Peter Caldwell, who pledged to prove the absence of political background in prosecuting top managers of YUKOS.
In Prosecutor General Office of Russia, they claim, in late 2002, Temerko masterminded procedures for the so-called gratuitous acquisition of 19.7 percent in Yeniseineftegaz. Other figurants are YUKOS Vice President Yury Beilin, YUKOS-Moscow Vice President and head of the corporate finance department of YUKOS Oleg Sheiko and YUKOS EP Vice President Sergey Petelin.
“The only novelty in the case is a statement of Rosneft head Sergey Bogdanchikov, where he regards his company as the party concerned in the process. I would like to note that Rosneft BOD is chaired by Igor Sechin, who is the deputy head of the president’s administration. The request for my extradition was forwarded to London exactly once he took over the office,” Temerko told Kommersant Monday, specifying no one had ever stolen the stocks of Yeniseineftegaz. “There was a business dispute between YUKOS and Rosneft, which was settled in arbitration and civil courts. After a while, an amicable agreement was entered into. Pursuant to it, both companies have no claims to each other.”
At the yesterday’s sitting, two tax inspectors of Britain compared tax optimization procedures applied by YUKOS, Sibneft and TNK-BP. Despite the obvious similarity, the Russian officials lashed out at YUKOS exclusively, the inspectors concluded.
The next hearing of the case is slated for December 15, 2005.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 08, 2005
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