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Ex-Yukos executives given 11, 12 years in jail for embezzlement

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MOSCOW, March 5 (RIA Novosti) - A Moscow court has sentenced two former executives of the bankrupt oil company Yukos's subsidiaries to 11 and 12 years in prison for embezzling $13 billion, a RIA correspondent reported from the courtroom.

Vladimir Pereverzin and Vladimir Malakhovsky, who were found guilty of misappropriating the money via a criminal group and of laundering it, were given 11 and 12 years in prison, respectively.

Lawyers for the defense said they consider the verdict to be illegal and unfounded, and intend to file an appeal with the Moscow City Court within 10 days, while the prosecution said it was satisfied with the court's decision.

Malakhovsky, ex-managing director of the Ratibor production unit, Pereverzin, a one-time deputy head of Yukos's foreign debt department, and Spanish citizen Antonio Valdez-Garcia, former head of Yukos subsidiary Fargoil, were charged with orchestrating a scheme to divert $13 billion worth of crude oil and to launder $8.5 billion of the receipts.

The prosecution demanded 11-year prison term for each of the defendants. All three have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

But Valdez-Garcia, released on parole while the case was pending, escaped from his Moscow apartment, which was under police guard.

Neither the Spanish Embassy in Moscow, nor Valdez-Garcia's lawyers are aware of his whereabouts.

The Basmanny District Court said Malakhovsky and Pereverzin purchased oil from Yukos subsidiaries, Yuganskneftegaz, Samarneftegaz and Tomskneft, at artificially reduced prices and resold it at inflated prices.

The Prosecutor General's Office said in mid-February it had completed its investigation in a new case against Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev, both of whom are serving eight-year sentences in Siberia for fraud and tax evasion.

Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are now accused of stealing $32 billion worth of oil from Samaraneftegaz, Yuganskneftegaz and Tomskneft in 1998-2003, which the two businessmen allegedly documented as "oil-well liquid."

Prosecutors said Khodorkovsky and Lebedev later resold the oil to end customers for triple the price via bogus firms registered both inside and outside Russia. The scheme helped launder a total of 450 billion rubles ($17 billion) and $7.5 billion.

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