On the third day of hearings, the court heard Rushan Chinokayev, vice-president of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Lawyers, invited by defense for a competent expert opinion as for the charges brought against Yukos employees Natalya Chernyshova and Dmitry Maruyev. The two now live in the UK.
Mr. Chinokayev analyzed the charges brought by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office against the above persons and presented his arguments that the time limitations of most of them had expired.
On Tuesday, the court also heard two more witnesses for defense - US law professor Stanislaw Pomorski, who had studied how courts work in the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk, and British professor Richard Sakwa presenting his views on the supposed political implication in the criminal prosecution of Yukos managers.
In its extradition request, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office noted that 76 billion rubles (about $20 million at the then rate) were stolen in 1997, having been allocated by the government to the Volgograd Region. According to Russian law enforces, the swindlers used the system of cross-cancellation of debts existing among Russian regions and businesses indebted to one another and to the federal government.
As of 1997, the Russian Finance Ministry owed 76 billion rubles to the Volgograd Region administration, while the then Yukos subsidiary Yuganskneftegaz owed a debt to the government.
According to investigators, Ms. Chernyshova forged documents on the nonexistent 76-billion-ruble debt owed by the Volgograd Region administration to Yuganskneftegaz for alleged deliveries of oil products. The fake debt allowed the swindlers to get money from the Finance Ministry on behalf of the Volgograd Region administration. The money was given to Yuganskneftegaz as a payment for the nonexistent debt of the region.
According to investigators, Ms. Chernyshova suggested Yukos Deputy General Accountant Dmitry Maruyev sign several sham documents on behalf of Yuganskneftegaz.
The Prosecutor General's Office charged Ms. Chernyshova and Mr. Maruyev as well as several other persons in absentia with fraud, having obtained court warrants for their arrest and put them on the international wanted list.
Now residing in the UK, Ms. Chernyshova and Mr. Maruyev turned to the British authorities for an asylum. No decision has been made on that. The two remain on bail and must appear at hearings in court. The hearings are to resume on Wednesday, March 16.
