Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.

Russian Businessman Found Guilty of Fraud, Tax Evasion
------------------------------------------------------

(http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=D7D120:3919ACA

Judge finds Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner guilty of
four out of seven charges





Khodorkovsky, left, and Lebedev standing in jail cageA judge in Moscow
has found the former director of Yukos Oil company guilty of various
charges including fraud and tax evasion. Mikhail Khodorkovsky could
receive up to 10 years in prison in a trial that critics say has
called into question Russia's commitment to the rule of law and
democratic change.

The judge found Khodorkovsky and his business partner guilty of four
out of seven charges against them.

The charges stem from what the court found was the illegal way they
used various schemes to amass a huge amount of money with which the
41-year-old former director got control of Yukos, once Russia's
largest oil company.

Khodorkovsky is one of several "oligarchs" who became billionaires
overnight in the chaotic years in the mid-1990's after the collapse of
the Soviet Union.

Part of his defense was to argue that nothing he or his colleagues did
was illegal at the time. Many of the other oligarchs now live in exile
outside Russia.

But the trial has been highly politicized since Khodorkovsky was
arrested at gunpoint a year and a half ago.

Most analysts say he angered the Kremlin when he openly funded
opposition political parties and sought foreign investment to build a
private oil pipeline, something that has always been controlled by the
state.

John Poppalardo is one of the lawyers defending Khodorkovsky. He says
the trial was a legal sham orchestrated by the government.

"The law is used as an instrumentality to achieve political and, in
this case, economic ends," he said.

Kremlin officials insist that the long, drawn-out Yukos affair is
strictly a matter of cracking down on fraud and corruption.

But Yukos officials say the government made it impossible for the
company to repay a back tax bill of $27 billion because all of its
liquid assets were frozen.

Then, last December, Yukos was effectively dismembered when the
government auctioned off its primary pumping unit in order to settle
those tax claims. The auction was conducted in such a way that it was
unclear who had acquired the Yugankneftgaz subsidiary, although a few
days later it was clear another company with Kremlin links had taken
control of it.

Many believe the government intended to seize Khodorkovsky's assets
all along, as a way for the state to reassert control over Russia's
vast energy resources.

The Yukos case has soured the foreign investment climate in Russia and
had an impact on the country's stock market.

An appeal is likely to be filed. But in a bizarre twist, last week
prosecutors announced that new charges of money-laundering would be
brought against Khodorkovsky as well, no matter what the outcome of
the current case.


.