New Judge Named for Yukos Countersuit

A new judge was appointed to hear Yukos's countersuit on a crushing back-tax bill Wednesday, while a lawyer reportedly accused the prosecution of dragging out the case against jailed former oil company CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

The second judge assigned to the case, Olga Mikhailova, withdrew Monday, citing psychological pressure caused by media coverage of the case, widely seen as part of a Kremlin-approved campaign to neutralize Khodorkovsky and possibly regain control over Russia's largest oil producer.

The Moscow Arbitration Court said judge Igor Petrov will hear the case, the Interfax news agency reported. A date for the resumption of hearings has not yet been set, it said.

Khodorkovsky and business partner Platon Lebedev are being tried on charges including fraud and tax evasion. As state prosecutors continued laying out their evidence Wednesday, Khodorkovsky lawyer Genrikh Padva reportedly accused them of taking too much time.

The prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin "has been dragging out the trial," Interfax quoted Padva as saying. "(He) has created the impression that the prosecution has a large amount of information."

Before the cases went to trial, prosecutors had presented the defense with 227 volumes of material on the accusations against Khodorkovsky and more than 100 regarding Lebedev.

As their trial proceeds, Yukos is struggling with an order to pay some $3.4 billion in back taxes for 2000, an amount that the company says could drive it into bankruptcy.

A Yukos challenge of the Tax Ministry's claim was put off when a court removed the initial judge at the ministry's request, forcing a rehearing that was to have begun Monday before Mikhailova.

Yukos has been presented with a similar claim for 2001 and could face more for subsequent years, and its prospects for survival darkened Tuesday when the Justice Ministry said that bailiffs would prepare its biggest production unit - Yuganskneftegaz - for sale.

"At the moment it is more than 50 percent likely that Yukos will cease to exist in its current form," Andrei Lusnikov, an analyst with Moscow-based Finmarket, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

The web of cases against Yukos and its shareholders has raised concerns among foreign governments and investors about Russia's dedication to market principles.

A U.S. Embassy official who asked not to be named said Wednesday that while the United States is not privy to all the details of the cases, "we are of course concerned about the appearance of a state grab of private property."

The Yukos production company at issue accounts for some 60 percent of the 1.7 million barrels of crude that Yukos produces per day. Speculation has been rife as to possible buyers.

Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom has publicly announced plans to ratchet up its oil operations, while state-controlled Rosneft and Surgutneftegaz, which has strong ties to government, are also likely candidates, according to analysts. Spokesmen for both Gazprom and Rosneft sought to quash those rumors Wednesday, ITAR-Tass reported.


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