Swindler-billionaires were put on a wanted list. Tax-dodgers from the Isle of Man. The website Prigovor.ru reminds its readers of what happened on January 22, 2004.
On this day 20 years ago, on January 22, 2004, it became known that all members of the organized group of Yukos "main shareholders" are defendants of criminal cases. Two of them – Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev – were arrested for fraud with shares in 2003. On January 12, 2004, Leonid Nevzlin and Vladimir Dubov were put on a wanted list for “tax evasion” to the amount of 26.7 million rubles as physical persons” – for “embezzlement on an especially large scale”. On January 15, 2004, the Office of the Prosecutor General put on a wanted list Mikhail Brudno, the president of the company “Yukos-PM” and Yukos co-owner. All three escaped to Israel well in advance.
The media outlet “Gazeta” contacted Leonid Nevzlin to get a commentary, and it turned out that Nevzlin was posted about the accusation against him, but "through unofficial channels". "My sources in the Prosecutor’s Office and FSB forwarded to me background information about the accusations against me and against Dubov”, he said confidently. “All is cobbled together very rough… I have no documents on Brudno”.
Nevzlin didn’t know anything about the international search of him at that moment. "I am not in Israel, but in Japan", he said to a reporter of the newspaper. "It’s a joke. I am not in Japan. Somewhere in Europe. But I will not say where”.
EVADERS FROM THE ISLA OF MAN
On the same day 20 years ago, on January 22, 2004, Moscow’s Meschansky Court completed the study of the materials of Vassily Shakhnovsky’s criminal case. In the course of the proceedings very interesting documents surfaced – “agreements of providing services with the same offshore firm “Status Service Limited” concluded in 1997-1999 by other managers of Yukos, namely by Mikhail Brudno, Platon Lebedev, Leonid Nevzlin, Viktor Kazakov”.
As it was announced in court, Shakhnovsky, in 1998, under the contract with the firm “Status Service Limited” “on providing services” received in August $500 000, in December $180 000. In 1999 the earnings “from the services” were not that big - $150 000 and $35 000. But, in 2000, for providing services, Shakhvovsky suddenly received from “Status Service Limited” an anomalous sum – to the tune of $2.8 million. Thereat he had difficulties in explaining the character of these consultations and could not mention even one of his clients. The investigation and the court came to the following conclusion – there were, in fact, neither consultations nor clients, the agreements were fictitious, as such payments – and not only to Shakhvovsky – were a form of tax evasion of physical persons – Article 198 of the Criminal Сode of the Russian Federation.
Despite all the bravado of the “main shareholders” of the most “transparent” oil company, who lied saying that, as physical persons, they provided “real consultations” through the firm “Status Service Limited” (the Isle of Man), in April 2005 “financial documents” were presented. They showed that Vladimir Dubov, Leonid Nevzlin, and Mikhail Brudno transferred to the Federal Treasury of the Russian Ministry of Finance for the Tax Inspections No2 and No5 of the Moscow Central district sums of money within the framework of the civil claim of tax agencies”.
In other words, as to tax evasion of physical persons, they did the same thing as Vassily Shakhnovsky who had actively recognized his debt and settled the tax arrears. Shakhnovsky for tax evasion received a suspended sentence, as he failed to demonstrate a full-fledged "active repentance".
(See also the previous article “On this day, a woman was shot at the behest of Nevzlin”. “Nevzlin together with Pichugin organized the murder of Korneyeva V.A. which was committed on January 21, 1998, by Shapiro with the help of Ovsyannikov”. The website Prigovor.ru reminds its readers of what happened on January 21, 1998.
