RUSSIA: RUSSIAN OIL TYCOON MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY BROUGHT TO COURT AS HIS COMPANY YUKOS FACES BANKRUPCY
Record ID:
344995
RUSSIA: RUSSIAN OIL TYCOON MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY BROUGHT TO COURT AS HIS COMPANY YUKOS FACES BANKRUPCY
- Title: RUSSIA: RUSSIAN OIL TYCOON MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY BROUGHT TO COURT AS HIS COMPANY YUKOS FACES BANKRUPCY
- Date: 12th July 2004
- Summary: (W4) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JULY 12, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SV SUPPORTERS OF MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY STANDING OUTSIDE MESHCHANSKI COURT HOUSE AND CHANTING "FREEDOM" 0.09 2. CU SUPPORTERS OF KHODORKOVSKY HOLDING HIS PORTRAIT 0.13 3. LAS POLICE PLACE SHIELDS IN FRONT OF CAMERAS TO PREVENT THEM FROM FILMING KHODORKOVSKY BEING ESCORTED OUT OF POLICE VAN 0.25 4. TOP VIEW COURT BUILDING / POLICE LEAD KHODORKOVSKY IN HANDCUFFS INTO COURT HOUSE 0.41 5. GROUND VIEW POLICE IN FRONT OF CAMERAS TO BLOCK VIEW OF KHODORKOVSKY 0.47 6. SV FATHER OF MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY, BORIS KHODORKOVSKY, WALKS INTO COURT HOUSE (2 SHOTS) 1.06 7. MCU MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY STANDING IN COURT ROOM HOLDING CAGE 1.19 8. MCU FELLOW DEFENDANT PLATON LEBEDEV BEHIND BARS 1.22 9. SV COURT OFFICIALS AND GUARDS PAN TO KHODORKOVSKY AND LEBEDEV TALKING 1.30 10. SV KHODORKOVSKY TALKING WITH LEBEDEV 1.38 12. SV OFFICIALS IN VOURT/KHODORKOVSKY TALKING WITH LEBEDEV (2 SHOTS) 1.46 13. SLV TRADING FLOOR OF ALFA CAPITAL 1.52 14. SV TRADERS ON PHONE LOOKING AT SHARE PRICE REPORTS (4 SHOTS) 2.22 15. MCU (English) KIRIL SURIKOV, ALFA BANK'S HEAD INTERNATIONAL TRADER SAYING: "The good news is that there will not be bankruptcy we believe. The line in the sand that was to be crossed last week on Wednesday was ultimately not breached, the government did not move forward to bankrupt the company. That's clearly the good news and the stock bounced on this. Moreover, we believe at the current price, which is roughly about 30-31 dollars per ADR, a lot of the bad case scenario for YUKOS is already factored into the price." 2.52 16. SV OF TRADING FLOOR (3 SHOTS) 3.20 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 27th July 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Reuters ID: LVA1VH311DGSHW6Z2EXTXA3410W0
- Story Text: Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky brought to
court as his company YUKOS faces bankruptcy.
Once Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky
once again was brought in front of a Moscow court on Monday
(July 12, 2004) to face charges of fraud and tax evasion.
A crowd of Khodorkovsky supporters gathered outside
Moscow's Meshchanski court house to call for Khodorkovsky's
freedom. They believe he is a political prisoner who is
facing selective justice for daring to fund political
opposition groups.
But the government says Khodorkovsky has a case to
answer and prosecutors are pressing to put him away for 10
years in a labour camp.
Tight security surrounded Khodorkovsky's arrival with
police doing their best to keep journalists from even
glimpsing their prisoner as they led him in handcuffs to a
side entrance of the court.
Khodorkovsky's trial is one of the most significant in
Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union, and represents
the centre piece of a crackdown on billionaire businessmen.
The so-called "oligarchs" carved off huge slices of
Russian industry in shady privatisations, and exercised
considerable political influence in the late 1990s but
President Vladimir Putin has reined them in.
Police seized him in October on charges many see as
punishment for his political ambitions by a Kremlin that
shows little tolerance of viable opposition.
Khodorkovsky is being tried along with former business
partner Platon Lebedev. Lebedev's lawyers have filed an
appeal to allow their client to receive medical treatment
outside the prison where he is being held. Pale and
visibly much worse since his last court appearance in June,
Lebedev did seem to be faring badly in what are regarded as
prison conditions far short of European standards.
As the court hears Lebedev and Khodorkovsky's fate,
confusion surrounds YUKOS--the company that Khodorkovsky
made into Russia's largest oil firm.
YUKOS has faced a series of legal defeats in court
leaving it with a huge tax bill and the possibility of more
bills to come.
YUKOS's tax bill now totals nearly $7 billion and it
faces a possible rapid sell-off of its assets. Its future
depends on whether Khodorkovsky and a small core of
shareholders can strike a deal that would almost certainly
see them relinquish control.
The YUKOS affair has shaken up Russian markets but
overall trading appeared to stabilise as markets opened on
Monday.
Alfa Bank's head international trader Kiril Surikov
said that the markets had already taken into account a
worse case scenario for YUKOS and were holding on the
belief that the government would not bankrupt the company.
"The good news is that there will not be bankruptcy we
believe. The line in the sand that was to be crossed last
week on Wednesday was ultimately not breached, the
government did not move forward to bankrupt the company.
That's clearly the good news and the stock bounced on this.
Moreover, we believe at the current price, which is
roughly about 30-31 dollars per ADR, a lot of the bad case
scenario for YUKOS is already factored into the price,"
said Surikov.
The uncertainty around YUKOS and recent bank
failures have tarnished Putin's image as the architect of
Russia's economic stability after the tumultuous 1990s and
could threaten future foreign investment.
Putin has pledged to try to prevent YUKOS's collapse
but the firm has continued to come under attack.
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