Business News

Khodorkovsky epic trial drags on

Yukos oil baron Mikhail Khodorkovsky was convicted on one count of fraud today, but was left waiting for a verdict on 10 other counts, as the court dragged out the controversial trial of Russia's onetime richest man.
The court's verdict concerned the acquisition of a 44% stake in an agricultural institute by Khodorkovsky and business partner Platon Lebedev.
Verdicts on the remaining counts had yet to be announced. For the second day in a row, the court adjourned its verdict hearing, meaning that the denouement of the 11-month trial, which has badly damaged Russia's image abroad and become a major political issue at home, was set to drag on.
The prosecution has asked for a maximum sentence of 10 years for Khodorkovsky, 41, and Lebedev, 46, who are charged under seven articles of the Russian criminal code. Both men deny all charges.
The trial, the most prominent since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, has stirred political passions and puts the spotlight on some contentious issues in Russia such as the privatisations of the 1990s, judicial reform and human rights.
Khodorkovsky was arrested in October 2003 when he was Russia's wealthiest man and his Yukos oil group was considered in the West as Russia's best-run company.
At the time of his arrest was also increasingly active in politics and it is this, many analysts believe, rather than alleged financial misbehaviour that made him a target of the Russian authorities.
Following his arrest, Yukos was then hit by a $28 billion back tax bill, paid partly by the sale of the company's main production unit, Yuganskneftegas, which was subsequently acquired by Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft.

posted by New @ 7:56 AM