Khodorkovsky and Lebedev have also described tax bodies' new demands for money for tax evasion as "extortion."
"The tax service believes that I could pay more but the law envisages as much as I have paid. I spend far more money on charity, so I take this claim philosophically," said Khodorkovsky.
At the same time, the former Yukos head said that claims that the tax service filed against four profit-making organizations (Business-oil, Wide-oil, Forest-oil, and Mitra) point to "the absolutely arbitrary behavior of the tax service."
"Tax bodies know in advance that this sort of claims cannot be put forward," said Khodorkovsky.
According to him, taxmen know that the charged sums have been paid twice (with bills of exchange and money, as ruled by the Arbitration Court). "Now they are demanding that we pay for a third and fourth time," said Khodorkovsky.
Lebedev, in turn, said that the charges were falsified, and the civil action of the Ministry for Tax and Dues is nothing but "undisguised extortion".
"The action itself is unsubstantiated. It is a useless scrap of paper. The case contains no documents about tax examination in relation to me, no official decision of the tax body - nothing," said Lebedev.
According to him, he will soon file counterclaims against the tax bodies and the legal successors of the Ministry for Taxes and Dues.
"I will file counterclaims against the tax service and the legal successor of the Ministry for Taxes and Dues when I have the opportunity. I will seek criminal responsibility of those who committed forgery," said Lebedev.
