Murder charge for Yukos tycoon

RUSSIA: A billionaire shareholder in the embattled Yukos energy firm was accused of conspiracy to murder yesterday, adding to the woes engulfing Russia's largest oil company and its jailed founder, Mr Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

A Moscow court issued an arrest warrant for Mr Leonid Nevzlin, a long-time ally of Mr Khodorkovsky, for allegedly ordering Yukos' security chief to kill people whom he considered a danger to himself or the company.

Mr Nevzlin fled to Israel last year as other leading Yukos officials came under investigation for tax evasion and fraud and the firm's head of security, Mr Alexei Pichugin, was charged with murder.

Mr Khodorkovsky, Russia's richest man, is himself facing 10 years in prison for financial crimes allegedly committed during the chaotic 1990s, when corruption and violence accompanied many of the rigged sales of prime state assets to a handful of well-connected "oligarchs".

"Investigations have yielded sufficient evidence to conclude that L Nevzlin entered into a criminal agreement with A Pichugin with the aim of killing certain people who presented a particular threat to the company or to L Nevzlin or A Pichugin themselves," the prosecutor general said in an unusually detailed statement. It outlined several attempted contract killings allegedly ordered by Mr Nevzlin, and the eventual murder of a couple - Sergei Gorin and his wife - who had information regarding the other planned "hits".

"Investigators believe that L Nevzlin and A Pichugin, realising the danger presented by S Gorin, including documents and information concerning their direct involvement in these events, decided to murder the Gorins. The Gorins were killed in the town of Tambov, where they lived. Their bodies were taken to an unknown location."

Trade in Yukos shares was suspended after they fell more than 10 per cent on the news, which sent another shockwave through a company that was considered one of Russia's most transparent and efficient until prosecutors began their onslaught last year.

Yukos, which pumps more oil than Libya, has warned that it faces bankruptcy should Russian courts demand payment of an alleged $7 billion or so in unpaid taxes. Mr Nevzlin, who is also charged with tax evasion and embezzlement, has accused Kremlin hardliners of punishing Mr Khodorkovsky for criticising President Vladimir Putin and funding opposition parties.

Many analysts see a battle for power raging behind the Yukos case, with liberals trying to save the firm and salvage Russia's reputation with rattled investors, while security service "hawks" want to teach the tycoons a lesson and reassert state control over the economy.