Karina Moskalenko, lawyer of Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Photo: Dmitry Lebedev
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Khodor to Have a Valuable Witness
The District Court of San Francisco has sustained lawyers of imprisoned oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky in their efforts to attract Chevron to the biggest trial in Russia and committed it to release the data of due diligence studies that it carried out in 2003 for acquiring 25 percent in Yukos. That deal was never clinched, as Russia’s Basmanny Court seized the Yukos stocks. Nowadays, Khodorkovsky’s lawyers stake on Chevron to prove their client’s innocence in the theft of over 349 million tons of oil.
The lawyers of Mikhail Khodorkovsky announced past Friday they were sustained by the Court of San Francisco and Chevron will have to release documents of due diligence carried out in 2003. According to the lawyers, the 2003 conclusion of the U.S. company was that Yukos worked in line with the law and no evidences of any theft of oil or laundering of revenues generated through it were revealed.
The lawyers are willing to use Chevron files to defend Khodorkovsky before the courts of Russia. New charges brought in against the imprisoned tycoon set forth the theft of over 349 million tons of oil and laundering of over 487 billion rubles and $7.5 billion via off-shore firms.
The tricky point is that the award of the U.S. court commits Chevron to provide due diligence documents not to the lawyers of Khodorkovsky but to the court. Moreover, the court obliged Chevron to specify what documents could be promulgated and what are deemed a corporate secret. Of interest is that in the U.S. office of Chevron they said they knew nothing about any decision of the U.S. courts re: the statement of Khodorkovsky’s lawyers and that the legal problems of Khodorkovsky bear no relation to Chevron.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 03, 2007
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