|
A court in Moscow found the former director of
Yukos Oil company guilty of fraud and tax
evasion and sentenced him to nine years in prison. The
trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his top business partner has called into
question Russia's commitment to the rule of law and democratic change.
The court ruling came after a year-long trial against the man who was
head of Yukos, once Russia's largest oil company.
The verdict came after a detailed reading of numerous charges against
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man and head of a company seen
as the most transparent in post-Soviet Russia.
The trial has been highly politicized since the 41-year-old businessman
was arrested at gunpoint a year and a half ago.
Most analysts say Mr. Khodorkovsky angered the Kremlin by openly
funding opposition political parties. He also sought foreign investment to
build a private oil pipeline, something that has always been controlled by
the state.
While the criminal case has been heard, the government effectively
dismantled Yukos, selling off its prime assets to pay a back tax bill of
over $27 billion.
Company officials complained this was a deliberate move to destroy the oil firm
because all of Yukos' liquid assets were frozen, making it impossible to
pay the tax bills.
All of this has soured the foreign investment climate in Russia and
damaged the reputation of President Vladimir Putin.
Robert Amsterdam was one of Khodorkovsky's defense lawyers. "This
is also a pretext for a
further attack on business, by not only the tax ministry but
others. And I think that's something that every foreign investor
needs to be concerned with. They're not only burying Khodorkovsky with
this judgment, but they're burying their hopes for foreign direct
investment."
Kremlin officials insist that the long, drawn-out "Yukos affair" is strictly
a matter of cracking down on fraud and corruption.
But after the verdict was read, Mr. Khodorkovsky was quoted as saying
the trail is a "gross miscarriage of justice."
Mr. Amsterdam says that an appeal will be filed soon.
However Mr. Khodorkovsky isn't out of the
woods yet. Prosecutors recently announced that new charges
for money-laundering will soon be brought against him. | 
