Mikhail Khodorkovsky Is an Authority, But a Legal One

During yesterday’s debates in Meshchansky District Court of Moscow, Genrikh Padva, lawyer of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, denied the existence of an organized criminal group headed by his clients. He also asked the court to acquit Mr. Khodorkovsky of the charge on the appropriation of 44 percent stake of the Research Institute of Fertilizers and Insectofungicides which, according to the advocate, had been bought “absolutely legally.” After the hearings, Khodorkovsky’s lawyer Anton Drel said that friends of the defendants had already paid their $4,8 million back taxes.

Genrikh Padva devoted almost half of the evening to the prosecution’s statement about the defendants’ alleged crimes in an “organized group”.

“The prosecutors’ affirmation that Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev are nearly organized crime gangsters is absolutely groundless,” the lawyer stated. “The prosecution’s theory of MENATEP bank headed by Mr. Khodorkovsky was a part of the criminal group does not represent the facts either. This bank was one of the most successful in Russia in 90s. The participation of the bank’s employees in the investment auctions of the selling the stock of state enterprises is not a crime, but an ordinary activity provided for by the charter of MENATEP. Along with other points, it stipulates “the search for enterprises interested in the implementation of the existing workings.”

However, Mr. Padva called on the court not to be led astray by the prosecution which “identifies MENATEP bank with Mr. Khodorkovsky”. According to the lawyer, Mikhail Khodorkovsky stopped managing the bank “and went to oil fields” in 1995 after MENATEP had bought 78 percent stake of YUKOS, unprofitable at that time.

“Mostly thanks to the energy of Mr. Khodorkovsky, YUKOS turned into the leading oil enterprise in 2003 with the capitalization of $40 billion,” the lawyer underscored. “And then the investigators incriminate him in heading at that time some organized group without even specifying where and how it was being formed. The prosecution changes the names of the members of the group and even leaders from one hearing to another. In this connection, I would like to note that when Russian law enforcement agencies turned to the Supreme Court of Lichtenstein asking for legal redress on some dealership of MENATEP, the court refused referring to the absence of the link between this bank and criminal activities.

Genrikh Padva slammed the statement of the bill of indictment which says that Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev’s participation in the constituent assembly of Russian Trust and Trade (RTT) joint venture which later created and operated dummy firms “is evidence to their attempts to capture the lead in the organized group.”

“No one argues with the fact that they headed RTT,” the lawyer said. “But does it prove their leading criminal positions? What nonsense!”

For more than an hour did the advocate study the content of the appointment book subjoined to the file of the third defendant, Andrey Kraynov. The lawyer thinks that the investigators draw erroneous conclusions about Mr. Kraynov’s recording criminal group’s actions on the basis of surnames of MENATEP and RTT’s employees written there, their phone numbers, the names of the companies which the prosecutor’s office call dummy. Mr. Padva insists that “gangsters do not write down their criminal deeds in appointment books.”

Then Genrikh Padva proceeded to the indictment's episode of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev's embezzlement of 44 percent stake of the Research Institute of Fertilizers and Insectofungicides.

“How can we speak about embezzlement if a required consent of the state for the sale of over 10 percent state of this research institute at an investment auction was obtained? Wallton company (whose guarantor was MENATEP) paid for this share holding the price 20 time higher than its nominal. The involvement of Mr. Khodorkovsky in an alleged embezzlement is not proved by anything.”

During the lawyer’s speech on this matter Dmirty Shokhin, state prosecutor, twisted his finger by his temple mumbling something. Genrikh Padva pointed out to the public prosecutor that this gesture was “indecent”, and the court in the request of the advocate made an admonition to Mr. Shokhin for discourteous behaviour (earlier only lawyers got admonitions from court).

Mr. Padva’s speech is to be continued today. Meantime, his colleague Anton Drel told the press that the Group MENATEP shareholders, Leonid Nevzlin, Mikhail Brudno and Vladimir Dubov, who reside in Israel and are put by the Russian Prosecutor’s General on an international wanted list, have transferred $4,8 million to the Moscow department of the Finance Ministry’s Federal Treasury to repay back taxes of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Planton Lebedev as individuals. Thus, they have satisfied lawsuits against the defendants filed by tax inspectorates No.2 and No.5, used in this trial. Admitedly, an civil suit of17,8 billion rubles allegedly underpaid by YUKOS against the defendants filed by the Federal Tax Service has remained unsatisfied. The advocates are going to show their clients today the documents on this money transfer. However, the advocates will have to petition for the interruption of the debates and resumption of the inquest in order to subjoin the documents to the case files. Today before the morning hearing the lawyers will decide if it is worth petitioning. If the debates on the case are not suspended, they may finish today.

(From Kommersant, 4.7.2005)