On the same day, the Office of the Prosecutor General took up the criminal case relating to the “oversee” top managers of Yukos – Teede, Mizamor, Godfrey, and Osborne. The website Prigovor.ru reminds its readers of what happened on August 17, 2006.
On this day 17 years ago, on August 17, 2006, the Moscow City Court passed its first sentence concerning Alexey Pichugin, ex-employee of the Yukos security service. The Court adjudged Pichugin guilty of organizing contract killings and sentenced him to 24 years imprisonment in a colony with a strict regime. “The guilt of the defendants is completely proven and is corroborated by evidence and materials of the case”, held the Verdict. Alexey Pichugin “was one of the masterminds of these murders, and during the court proceedings it was established that the funding had been coming from the management of Yukos”, said the public prosecutor, summing up the results of this court case.
(See the full text of the Verdict of the Moscow City Court pertaining to the case No 2-46-10/06 of the Pichugin criminal group guilty of murdering Korneyeva, of murdering Petukhov, guilty of attempted murder on Kolesov, of two attempted murders on Rybin and related to robbery assault on the Kapliyev family).
A bit later, the Judicial Chamber on Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, relying on arguments of the defense as well as on submissions of the public prosecutor (that the verdict was too soft) abated this verdict and sent the case back for retry, in another composition of the Court. The Judicial Chamber held its Decision from February 21, 2007, as follows:
“In the course of a new investigation of the Pichugin's case, it's necessary for the court to take all measures for a full and comprehensive investigation of all circumstances of the case, for preventing breaches of the law of the Code of Criminal Procedure and in accordance with the already obtained results, and then sustain corresponding sentence variants of which are determined under Article 302 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In case of delivering a verdict of guilty, the Court should consider the possibility of imposition of a more severe punishment on Puchugin (page 25 of the Ruling of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation).
As a result, approximately a year later, on August 6, 2007, a new verdict was delivered on the second Pichugin case. Judge Petr Shtunder sentenced Pichugin to lifetime incarceration in a maximum-security penal colony. Eventually, he has been serving his term of imprisonment in the colony “The Black Dolphin” in the Orenburg area.
(See also the article “Puchigin kept silence exculpating Nevzlin and got a lifetime” (http://prigovor.ru/info/37753.html). The employee of the Yukos security service will serve a life sentence for the committed crimes. The lawyers, as well as the prosecutors, do not hide that they expected such a decision of the Court. Judge Petr Shtunder, who read of the verdict for about five hours, left no stone unturned of the position of Pichugin’s defense, which insisted on the complete innocence of the defendant).
So, based on the Court's verdict, Alexey Pichugin, a handyman of the fugitive Leonid Nevzlin, received life incarceration:
- for organizing the murder of Vladimir Petukhov, the mayor of Nefteyugansk, who thrown himself in the way of Yukos;
- for organizing of the murder of his helpers from Tambov – Sergei Gorin and Olga Gorin, his spouse, who became uncomfortable witnesses for him;
- for organizing the murder of the entrepreneur Valentina Korneyeva, who didn’t want to sell to Khodorkovsky and Nevzlin a trading space they took a liking to;
- for organizing the murder of Nikolay Fedotov, the driver of the Austrian oil company of Yengenyi Rybin, who was murdered by killers during the second attack on Rybin;
- for organizing the assault on Serguei Kolesov, chief of the administration of the CJSC ‘Rosprom’.
(See also Pichugin organized at the direction of Nevzlin murders of 5 persons and attempted murders on 7 persons . In Moscow, a life-long sentence was passed on Alexey Pichugin. The father of Mikhail Khodorkovsky was summoned for questioning about the murder of the mayor of Nefteyugansk. The website Prigovor.ru reminds its readers of what happened on August 6, 2007, and 2015).
“At the disposal of the indicated persons illegally came to be the assets worth more than 10 billion US dollars”
On the same day, on August 17, 2006, The Office of the Prosecutor General took up yet another criminal case with regard to the former managers of the Oil Company Yukos.
(See also “Millionaire Teede” . Who keeps company with the wolf, will learn to howl. The former vice-president of the JSC Oil Company Yukos Steven Teede suspected of appropriating the assets of the company in his custody to the tune of 10 billion US dollars).
A criminal charge was launched against the ex-president of the Oil Company Yukos Steven Teede and two other top managers of this company – financial director Bruce Mizamor and special counselor for the management of the company David Godfrey, as well as against the director of the company Group Menatep Ltd Timothy Osborne. The investigation was carried out based on Articles 160 and 174 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Misappropriation or Embezzlement and Legalization (Laundering) of Funds and Other Property Acquired by Persons Illegally).
As the result of the machinations, at the disposal of the mentioned persons illegally came assets amounting to more than 10 billion US dollars - in the form of pecuniary assets, eurobonds, bonds of enterprises, stocks of factory units, portfolio investments in different foreign foundations as well as pecuniary assets in confidential management in trusts and foreign banks. Hereafter, in order to hide the origins of the stolen property, part of these shares were sold to other foreign companies. Thus, Teede, Mizamor, Godfrey, and Osborne, using their official positions, stole and legalized assets of other persons that were in their custody and consequently inflicted particularly big damage to the owners based on the territory of the Russian Federation – to the open joint-stock company "Oil Company Yukos".
(See also on the same subject: Cunning rascals of the YUKOS' 'laundry room' temporarily rewarded with 2.6 billion dollars. 'The company 'YUKOS Capital S.a.r.l.' were specially created for laundering money stolen during the offtake of the stolen oil', reminds its readers the website Prigovor.ru - https://flb.ru/2/4376.html).
The defenders of the case themselves, naturally, rejected the charges, and they thought that the funneling of the assets and money out of Russia had been sort of colonial business and “development” of the company. The criminal case – it’s “a silly reaction to our efforts to preserve the assets of Yukos”. So was a brave commentary from distance of Mr. Osborne, a British lawyer with a still voice who demanded “guarantees” that he would not be arrested if he came to Russia. Of course, nobody has given him such guarantees as he was not striving to cooperate with the investigation. So, no striving – no guarantees.
“A source acquainted with the situation”
It’s indicative that in the spring of 2015 Interfax news agency with reference to “the source acquainted with the situation” placed in a newsfeed information about the suspension of the case pertaining to the foreign managers of Yukos. “The investigation with regard to the four former foreign managers Yukos – Bruce Mizimor, Steven Teede, Timothy Osborne, and David Godfrey was suspended as it was not possible to institute a criminal proceeding against them”, - said the interlocutor of the agency. This unauthorized news, obviously, was picked up by business media purporting that the investigation could not achieve the extradition of foreigners as Russian demands of that kind were ignored.
It looked logical, sort of. But the business media didn’t get any official confirmation from the law enforcement agencies.
The underlying reason for this stove-piping can be easily explained. The foreign top managers of Yukos at that time, in 2015, were preparing a claim for the British court trying to enforce “compensations”. In England, as is known, the notoriety of figurants of a criminal case doesn’t look presentable. But if cunning dogs have at their hands a newspaper clipping saying that “the case is suspended”, it could be interpreted for their own benefit.
Still, in any case, the penalty for Bruce Mizimor, Steven Teede, Timothy Osborne, and David Godfrey is inescapable. Most likely, the trial in absentia is waiting for these foreign dealers, points out the website Prigovor.ru.
(See the previous story: Yukos as fraudulent tax-dodger.“ To the heads of the Yukos affiliate a command was given - under any pretext not to issue documents, sometimes the offices were simply closed". The website Prigovor.ru reminds its reader of what happened on August 16, 2004).
