Friends of Khodorkovsky ready to pay income tax claim

MOSCOW (AFP) - Business partners and friends of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed founder of the Russian oil group Yukos, are prepared to pay back taxes which the state claims he owes, Khordorkovsky said.

"My lawyers informed me today that my friends have decided to pay the sums that correspond to my fiscal debt, as well as those of (another partner) Platon Lebedev," Khodorkovsky said at the Moscow court where his trial is nearing an end.

The sums amounts to around 54 million rubles (two million dollars).

"I demand that the court not consider this payment as recognition of my guilt or truth of the complaint by fiscal bodies," the Yukos founder stressed.

His statement was confirmed by partners in the Menatep holding group who have sought refuge in Israel -- Leonid Nevzlin, Mikhail Brudno and Vladimir Dubov -- in a statement on the Internet site of Khodorkovsky's press center.

"We are prepared to pay what Khodorkovsky and Lebedev owe in income tax under the civil action brought against them," Nevzlin said in the statement.

"Although Khodorkovsky and Lebedev have not admitted their guilt and their guilt has not been proven on any counts, we are prepared to do everything in our power to minimize the state's claims," Nevzlin added.

Khodorkovsky, once the richest man in Russia, was arrested in October 2003 and charged with tax evasion, massive fraud and money laundering.

He faces up to 20 years in jail.

Lebedev, another top Yukos official, is being tried separately.

The Russian tax authorities are also claiming more than 27 billion dollars (20.8 billion euros) in unpaid taxes by Yukos.

Yukos's main asset Yuganskneftegaz went to state-run Rosneft in a controversial government auction for less that 10 billion dollars (7.72 billion euros) in October.

Yugansk alone produces as much oil as the US state of Texas, and accounted for more than 60 percent of Yukos's sales.

Many observers regard the charges against Khodorkovsky as a Kremlin-driven vendetta in retaliation for his well-financed foray into politics in opposition to President Vladimir Putin.

The Yukos founder also clashed with the state over its control of lucrative export pipelines.

(From AFP via Yahoo!)