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Yukos lawyers win first round in new battle



By Vladimir Afanasiev 

Lawyers for jailed Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky have been granted a subpoena by a US judge which will give them access to due diligence documents related to Yukos from US supermajor Chevron, a move they believe will help refute claims of embezzlement and money laundering levelled at both Khodorkovsky and the bankrupt company by Russian authorities.

Khodorkovsky's lawyer Robert Amsterdam and his team said that documents that Chevron collected from various analysts and sources at the end of 2002 and 2003 as it considered buying a 25% stake in Yukos will help them clear Lhodorkovsky's name and remove the shadow over Yukos' reputation.

The filing to a court in the Northern District of California said that “were there any truth to the accusation, Chevron would have undoubtedly detected the widespread criminal misconduct alleged, and would not have continued to pursue the acquisition”.

Amsterdam said: “This is just the beginning of a global evidence-gathering process that is necessary because the procuracy of the Russian Federation is not a fact-gatherer but rather, an enforcement arm of a Kremlin bent on consolidating the state theft of Yukos."

Industry insiders said that several due diligence reports that were ordered by Chevron, described Yukos as a quickly growing and reliable operation though pointed on Khodorkovsky as an independently minded person interested in politics and having too much control over the company.

Chevron had to stop its negotiations with Yukos on the buy-out in July 2003 when Russian prosecutors arrested Khodorkovsky’s colleague and Yukos shareholder Platon Lebedev.

Besides the need to refute claims against Yukos by Russian authorities, Yukos lawyers are apparently seeking to prove the validity of company’s annual reports that were prepared with the help of international auditors Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC).

In June, PWC withdrew its signature from Yukos financial reports in the period from 1995 to 2004, apparently to be enable it to continue working with other major clients in Russia, local media reports claimed. PWC denied these accusations.

Earlier, Russian authorities charged PWC in hiding important information from Yukos’ reports and threatened to withdraw its licence.

Friday, 31 August, 2007, 10:28 GMT  | last updated: Friday, 31 August, 2007, 10:33 GMT

Behind bars: Mikhail Khodorkovsky
 

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