Kommersant: YUKOS Vice-President Arrested 5 Days after the Appointment

The Prosecutor General’s office detained Vasily Alexanyan yesterday, five days after he had been appointed vice-president of YUKOS. He was determined to get the company back under the control of Steven Theede, YUKOS’ president who is now abroad.

Mr. Alexanyan was arrested after the court upheld the prosecutors’ speculation that he had been involved in embezzlement of 12 billion rubles at Eastern Oil Company and Tomskneft and the money laundry.
The prosecutors had to file a petition with the court since Vasily Alexanyan had been an attorney and could be charged only after a court sanction.

The court sided with the prosecutors who can now indict Vasily Alexanyan, the former head of the legal department of YUKOS. The official is suspected of embezzling property and stocks of Eastern Oil Company and its subsidiary, Tomskneft, worth of 12 billion rubles, as well as money laundry. Devorg Dangyan noted that the prosecutors virtually copied the accusations leveled against Svetlana Bakhmina, the deputy head of the legal department of YUKOS.

Vasily Alexanyan was arrested at his friend’s apartment in downtown Moscow and taken to the investigation department of the Prosecutor General’s Officer for an interrogation.

Mr. Alexanyan was appointed vice-president of YUKOS on April 1 and strove to reorganize the management structure of the oil company after two subsidiaries of the company refused to subordinate to the London office.

Mr. Aleksanyan called the charges leveled by the prosecutors unfounded and noted that they are mainly based on Svetlana Bakhmina’s testimony. “There’s nothing but the testimony here. I am sure that they promised a more lenient penalty for her in return for the evidence. I am not judging her – she’s a mother of two children after all. There can’t be a choice in this case.”

The interrogation of the former YUKOS vice-president lasted well after 9 p.m. last night. Aleksanyan’s lawyer, Devorg Davgyan told the press later that the state investigator charged his client with embezzlement and money laundry. Mr. Aleksanyan was sent to a detention center yesterday, and the Basmanny Court is to consider the prosecutor’s application for his formal arrest today.

by Vladislav Trifonov
===
See also: Shocking pictures of the arrest