RUSSIA: MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY, HEAD OF YUKOS OIL, QUESTIONED IN CONNECTION WITH ARREST OF BUSINESS ALLY PLATON LEBEDEV ON THEFT AND CONTEMPT CHARGES.

Record ID: 344851

  • Title: RUSSIA: MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY, HEAD OF YUKOS OIL, QUESTIONED IN CONNECTION WITH ARREST OF BUSINESS ALLY PLATON LEBEDEV ON THEFT AND CONTEMPT CHARGES.
  • Date: 4th July 2003
  • Summary: (U3) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JULY 4, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. TRACK: HEAD OF YUKOS OIL COMPANY MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY WALKING TOWARDS PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE. 0.16 2. CU: SECURITY CAMERA. 0.20 3. WS: EXTERIOR OF THE PROSECUTOR'S BUILDING. 0.25 4. CU: SIGN SAYING: "GENERAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE" 0.29 5. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY, HEAD OF YUKOS OIL COMPANY, SAYING: "The business activity of the company was not discussed. The company has nothing to do with this case. And we only discussed problems that had already been discussed in the press." 1.07 6. MLV: MEDIA. 1.10 7. TRACK/MLV: KHODORKOVSKY'S CAR DRIVES AWAY. (2 SHOTS) 1.48 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 19th July 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA1UI7TDHS95J762ZMN23ON58PX
  • Story Text: Russia's richest man and head of the YUKOS oil company
    has been summoned by state prosecutors for questioning in
    connection with the arrest of business ally Platon Lebedev who
    has been charged with theft of state property and contempt of
    court.



    YUKOS Chief Executive Officer and Russia's wealthiest
    man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was summoned to a prosecutor's
    office on Friday (July 4) in connection with Lebedev's case.

    Platon Lebedev was detained by police on Wednesday (July
    2) under suspicion of embezzling what prosecutors say is 283
    million U.S. dollars from a state-owned fertiliser company.

    After spending about two hours at the prosecutor's office,
    Khodorkovsky left saying no business issues relating to YUKOS
    had been discussed.

    "The company itself in this case has not been discussed.

    I can't tell you any more for legal reasons," Khodorkovsky
    told reporters as he left.

    News of Lebedev's detention raced through the ranks of
    Russia's super-rich even as they toasted the purchase of
    English soccer club Chelsea by Russian "oligarch" Roman
    Abramovich.

    Business figures said the action had been initiated by
    Kremlin hawks keen on clipping the wings of "oligarchs", the
    super-wealthy elite, before December parliamentary elections.

    Shares in YUKOS, Russia's biggest private firm by value,
    plunged six percent on the news, wiping nearly 2 billion U.S.

    dollars off the company's market price.

    Khodorkovsky said the firm's merger with smaller rival
    Sibneft was going ahead as planned. The detention of Lebedev,
    a driving force behind the 12-15 billion U.S. dollar cash and
    equity deal, would have no effect.

    A Moscow district court ruled late on Thursday (July 3)
    that Lebedev would remain in detention, but his lawyers told
    reporters they could not determine whether he had been
    formally charged.

    Nor did they know where Lebedev, who had been undergoing
    hospital treatment, was being held. Lebedev, himself worth 1.3
    billion U.S. dollars according to Forbes magazine, heads MFO
    Menatep, a subsidiary of Group Menatep which holds 61 percent
    of YUKOS.

    Business leaders consider the move one of political
    feuding.

    Most analysts saw Khodorkovsky as the prime target, but
    believed the Kremlin did not necessarily want to block the
    complex deal with Sibneft which will make YUKOS Russia's
    largest and the world's fourth largest oil producer.

    But they saw Lebedev's detention as a pre-election message
    from Kremlin conservatives, directed at the powerful
    "oligarchs" and Khodorkovsky in particular, to stay out of
    politics.

    Analysts said the action was unlikely to affect long-term
    confidence in a market which has attracted investment through
    2003, pushing its benchmark index to five and a half year
    highs.

    In February, Britain's BP said it would pay 6.7 billion
    U.S. dollars for 50 percent in an enlarged company combining
    Russia's fourth biggest oil company TNK with smaller affiliate
    Sidanco. It is post-Soviet Russia's biggest foreign
    investment.




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