MOSCOW, January 30 (RIA Novosti) - Vladimir Nekrasov, the owner of the Arbat Prestige cosmetics retailer, and his consultant Sergei Mogilevich have been charged with tax evasion, a lawyer acting for Nekrasov said on Wednesday.

"Nekrasov and Mogilevich have just been charged with large-scale corporate tax evasion," Alexander Dobrovinsky said.

A police source earlier said Nekrasov, 47, owed 49.5 million rubles ($2 million) in back taxes for January 2005 - December 2006.

Ukrainian businessman Mogilevich, 61, wanted "for racketeering, securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering" by the FBI, was detained on charges of organizing a tax evasion scheme for Arbat Prestige.

"We consider the charge totally absurd and unclear," Dobrovinsky said.

Arbat Prestige is one of Russia's leading cosmetic retailers. Established in 1989, it opened its first retail outlet in 1998, and currently runs a network of 64 outlets across Russia. The company reported income of around $346 million in 2006.