Khodorkovsky and Lebedev will be indicted again, and quite soon, Natalia Vishnyakova, the Prosecutor General's official spokesperson, said to a news conference today. The new charges will focus on several billions of US dollars laundered, she specified.
"Yukos was making public reports approved by international auditors. Its Board of Directors and finance managerial staff were transnational bodies from 1999 through 2004. All that guarantees international cross-hearings with results any expert can predict.
"An attempt has been made to qualify as money laundering what really was open dividend payment to all stockholders. There were many foundations and other organizations among them, and tens of thousands of private persons-nationals of Russia and other countries. Considering that attempt, it is hard to forecast what scope these results may take," Khodorkovsky says in a statement he has passed out of jail through his lawyers.
A perfectly transparent company had all its information checked and confirmed by international audits. Now, the top prosecutor's men are out to put that information to doubt. The prospects threaten to undermine Russia's reputation as law-based state, stresses the defendant, who has been in jail for 565 days now in pre-trial detention and throughout his trial, long underway.
The prosecution is getting ready with another indictment as it has no leg to stand on with the available case, on which the verdict is expected, Monday next, eminent Heinrich Padva, one of Khodorkovsky's lawyers, said earlier on the day.
Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, Menatep finance group CEO, are accused on seven Criminal Code clauses, in particular, tax evasion and fraud involving huge sums.
