Russian former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov said on Monday new charges against former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky were ludicrous and politically motivated.
Khodorkovsky is already serving an eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion. He is now accused of stealing $9.6 billion from the $15.8 billion profit generated by Yukos between 1999 and 2003, as well as 350 million tons of oil.
"As for theft on such a grand scale... my answer in unequivocal - this could not be," Kasyanov said while testifying at Moscow's Khamovniki District Court handling the new charges against Khodorkovsky.
He said Yukos activities were controlled by the government and did not in any way differ from those of the eight other largest oil companies.
"Interaction with the business sector was standard practice for our government. As head of the government I received no reports of any violations of the law by Yukos," he said.
Kasyanov said Yukos was the country's largest taxpayer while "all revenues and tax flows were controlled [by the government]."
He said the criminal case against Khodorkovsky was politically motivated because the former head of Yukos had funded the opposition - "not only the Union of Rightist Forces and Yabloko, but also Communists."
He said in 2003 it had become obvious there was "tension" between then-President Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
At a meeting with Putin, Khodorkovsky brought up the issue of corruption with regard to a deal involving state-controlled oil company Rosneft.
Kasyanov said Putin's reaction "created the impression that the powers that be were exerting pressure on business."
He said that after Khodorkovsky's arrest, he started having disagreements with Putin.
The Khamovniki court hearing a new case against Khodorkovsky on Wednesday refused to subpoena Putin as a witness. It also turned down a motion by the Khodorkovsky defense to summon Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin.
However, it subpoenaed Sberbank head German Gref, who was previously Russia's economy and trade minister, and Russian Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Khristenko. They are to appear in the Khamovniki court on June 21 and 22, respectively.
Khodorkovsky told the court earlier that he could not understand what he was accused of because his specific actions were not described in the criminal case.
MOSCOW, May 24 (RIA Novosti)
