The Criminal Allegations
In 2003, the allegations of criminal activity made against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev included fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion.
Most of the government's allegations revolve around the alleged fraudulent privatization of nearly bankrupt Apatit Voskresenskie Mineral Fertilizer. When Apatit - a state-owned producer of phosphorous concentrate used to make fertilizers - was privatized by the government, authorities allege that Khodorkovsky and his associates did not fulfill their investment obligations under the privatization agreement. The facts of the case do not support these or any other allegations of crime committed by Khodorkovsky and Lebedev.
Today, Apatit is one of the largest fertilizer producers in the world. Its success is largely attributable to the investments made into the company's infrastructure and efficient management by Khodorkovsky and his business associates. The prosecution's unprecedented attack on the tax minimization practices used by YUKOS was based on a retroactive application of law. Over the course of the trial, many witnesses and experts, including witnesses for the prosecution, testified in favor of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, demonstrating that they employed legal business practices commonly used by many other businessmen in Russia at the time.
The truth is that the proceedings against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev have been widely criticized as a politically motivated attempt by the government to silence these men and take control of the successful businesses they ran.
On February 5, 2007, Russian prosecutors filed new charges against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev in the Siberian city of Chita. On June 30, 2008, investigators again brought charges, which with some amendments repeated the charges of February 2007. The new allegations are so inflated as to imply that the men embezzled oil in the amount equal to the total amount of oil that YUKOS produced from 1997-2003.