Yukos Accuses Germany of Aiding Kremlin Over Key Asset Sale

Yukos, Russia’s embattled oil group, has accused Germany of complicity in the appropriation of its main operating unit Yuganskneftegaz.

The Independent reported on Monday that Robert Amsterdam, the lawyer who represents the main shareholder of Yukos, Menatep, and its imprisoned former chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky, alleged that Deutsche Bank was acting as a “proxy” for the German government over the Yugansk sale. The Kremlin forced Yukos to sell the Yugansk unit to cover its mounting tax debt.

Yukos filed for bankruptcy protection in the US last month, which meant that Western banks pulled out of a deal to finance a planned $10 billion bid by the Russian state-controlled energy group Gazprom for Yugansk. Last week Deutsche Bank, one of the banks that had lined up to back Gazprom, put a motion before the US courts to dismiss the bankruptcy protection which greatly complicated the Kremlin’s plans for Yugansk.

Amsterdam insisted Deutsche Bank was acting on behalf of the German state and attributed the move to the close relationship between the Russian president Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schroder, the German leader. He said Germany was using its good name in international financial circles to help Russia.“This is a case of reputation laundering. Schroder is behind this. It is a big scandal,” Mr Amsterdam said.

The German Chancellor is known to be close to Mr Putin. Earlier this year Mr Putin reportedly helped Mr Schroder adopt a Russian orphan from St Petersburg, the Russian leader’s hometown. as their new boss.

(Mosnews, 1.3.2005)