Russian oil tycoon 'about to be found guilty' in tax trial

By Chris Johnston, Times Online

The legal team of Mikhail Khodorkovsky say that the Russian oil tycoon is about to be found guilty in his long-running tax evasion and fraud case in Moscow.

After three hours the judge in the case adjourned her reading of the verdicts until tomorrow, but the tycoon’s lawyers said the form of her reading today meant he would be found guilty.


The extensive paperwork in the complex case could take days to read aloud, but the early portions essentially repeated the indictment against him.


"Judging by the fact that the judge is reading the indictment, it will be a guilty verdict," said Robert Amsterdam, a Canadian member of Mr Khodorkovsky’s legal team.

Reuters reported that the judge had found the ex-Yukos boss had already been guilty on four out of seven charges of tax evasion and fraud, but other reports said that the judge has only repeated the charges so far - a process that could take days.

In the cramped courtroom, judge Irina Kolesnikova began reading aloud shortly after midday local time from a stack of papers about 25 centimetres (10 inches) thick.

It was not immediately clear whether verdicts would be given charge-by-charge or whether the determination would be given only after reading all of the charges.

Ms Kolesnikova could take up to three days to read the verdict, allowing time for an explanation of her decision under each charge. Russian judges are required to read the verdicts aloud.

Mr Khodorkovsky, sitting in a courtroom cage as do defendants in all Russian trials, wore a brown suede jacket and blue jeans. He smiled at family members in the courtroom and jokingly mimed to his wife to take off her sunglasses.

"The sentence for Khodorkovsky is awaited by practically all the citizens of the country. Without exaggeration, it is a signal event that will determine the direction of the country’s development for many years to come," the Izvestia newspaper commented.

Mr Khodorkovsky arrived at a hidden side entrance to the court in a van from the jail cell where he has been held for 19 months. As always, he was hustled from the van straight into the building.

A heavier-than-usual police contingent waited outside in response to the turnout of hundreds of Mr Khodorkovsky’s supporters.

Prosecutors have called for him to receive the maximum 10-year sentence. The prosecutor-general’s office said on Friday that it also planned to file new charges against Mr Khodorkovsky, in a move his lawyers called a crude attempt to ensure that the Meshchansky Court sends him to prison.

"The verdict will not represent the evidence, the government has not proved their case against them. The best the government has proved is that the criminal activity did not occur, but unfortunately that won’t be reflected in the verdict," said Sanford Saunders, another of Mr Khodorkovsky’s lawyers.

The sentence had originally been scheduled for April 27, but was postponed at the last moment. The delay was widely believed to be due to the fact that Mr Putin was soon due to host dozens of foreign leaders in Moscow for VE Day celebrations and the Kremlin did not want any unpleasant questions about the jailed tycoon to spoil the occasion.

Mr Khodorkovsky and a co-defendant, Platon Lebedev, face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, in a case that many observers believe stems from a Kremlin vendetta against Russia's former wealthiest man for his political ambitions.

The trial concluded on April 12, when Mr Khodorkovsky made a final, defiant statement before the judge retired to consider her verdict. He accused the Kremlin of fabricating the charges against him and insisted that he was innocent.

Nevertheless, even his lawyers said they expected that the founder of the Yukos oil giant would be found guilty, and given part or all of the ten- year prison sentence that prosecutors have demanded.

"All this is being done for self-serving reasons. They have jailed me so I can't stop them looting Yukos," Mr Khodorkovsky said in his closing statement from inside a metal cage in the courtroom.

"I'm being held under arrest even though some of the most respected people in the country have spoken in my support."

He was arrested at gunpoint on a Siberian runway in October 2003 and the most valuable part of Yukos was forcibly sold back to the State to cover a $27.5 billion (£14.5 billion) back-tax bill.

The saga has effectively re-established President Putin's authority over the oligarchs, the country's hugely rich business barons, and given the State a strategic foothold in the oil industry.

However, it has severely dented confidence in Russia's business environment and raised fears in the West that the country is sliding back towards authoritarianism.

(From The Times, 5.16.2005)