RUSSIA: A billionaire shareholder in Russia's giant Yukos oil firm went on trial yesterday for fraud and tax evasion, in a case seen as a prelude to the controversial prosecution of the country's richest man, Mr Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Mr Platon Lebedev's arrest last July marked the start of a fierce legal onslaught against Yukos, which culminated in the seizure of the company's chief executive on his private jet last October. Mr Khodorkovsky will stand trial later this year, in what his supporters say will be a show trial intended to silence opponents of the Kremlin.
Mr Lebedev (44) is accused of defrauding Russia of the equivalent of $1.2 billion, in charges centred on the 1994 privatisation of a fertiliser firm, Apatit. He and his associates won a 20 per cent stake in the company through a complex scheme involving several fake bidders, prosecutors say. Apatit was sold for a nominal price, and the winning bidders never fulfilled a pledge to invest $283 million in the firm, it is alleged.
Mr Lebedev and Mr Khodorkovsky, who is accused of masterminding the plan, have denied the charges.
"Platon Leonidovich \ does not consider himself guilty and thinks the criminal case was fabricated by the prosecutor's office," a lawyer, Ms Yelena Liptser, told reporters outside the Meshchansky court in central Moscow.
Security was tight for the hearing, with armed police surrounding the court and most media being refused access to the supposedly open trial.
It was adjourned after an hour when Mr Lebedev asked the court to review his case together with that of Mr Khodorkovsky, a long-time ally with whom he acquired huge wealth in the 1990s.
"On every point of accusation I am considered with Khodorkovsky.
"Khodorkovsky's case is with the Meshchansky court, so the opportunity is there to study both criminal cases together," Mr Lebedev told the courtroom. Prosecutors opposed the move, and the trial will resume on May 28th.
Many analysts here see the barrage of charges levelled against Yukos and its senior officials as an attempt to reduce or destroy its huge wealth and influence, while crushing the nascent political ambitions of Mr Khodorkovsky.
Unlike most other Russian "oligarchs", he occasionally criticised Mr Putin and the government and hinted at his own presidential ambitions. His fellow tycoons have stuck to a pact that they sealed with the former KGB agent, whereby he agreed not to delve into the murky origins of their wealth if they stayed out of politics.
Mr Khodorkovsky, whose fortune is estimated at $15 billion, was also close to selling a major stake in Yukos to the US oil major ExxonMobil when he was arrested last autumn. His supporters say that deal would have given him financial resources and international political connections that even the Kremlin could have struggled to contain.
Analysts believe the authorities' ultimate objective is to strip Mr Khodorkovsky and his associates of their shares in the highly profitable oil company.
Mr Khodorkovsky is No 16 on Forbes magazine's list of global billionaires, with an estimated personal fortune of $8.8 billion. Mr Lebedev is ranked 310th with $1 billion.
Yukos's share price and investor confidence in the firm have been battered by the string of high-profile arrests and a claim for at least $3.4 billion in allegedly unpaid taxes.