Head of Russia's largest oil producer detained

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, October 25, 2003

Head of Russia's largest oil producer detained

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the head of Russia's largest oil producer Yukos and the richest man in the country, was detained on Saturday morning in Siberia after months of judicial campaign involving the company.

The Interfax news agency quoted Yukos spokesman Alexander Shadrin as saying that the swoop took place at around 5:00 a.m. local time when Khodorkovky's plane landed to refuel in Novosibirsk en route from Nizhny Novgorod to Irkutsk.

The action on Yukos began in July when core company shareholderPlaton Lebedev was arrested on charges of theft of state property in a 1994 privatization deal. The accusations have since mounted to include charges of murder, attempted murder and tax evasion.

Another Yukos shareholder, Vasily Shakhnovsky, was charged withtax evasion last week, and prosecutors have said they expect to bring charges against other senior Yukos managers soon.

Khodorkovsky, who was questioned by prosecutors soon after Lebedev's detention, has repeatedly described the campaign againsthis company as a political motive, and vowed not to leave Russia on exile.

The Prosecutor General's Office said that Khodorkovsky was detained because he refused to come for questioning.

"Khodorkovsky was summoned for questioning on Friday in the framework of a criminal case. Khodorkovsky demonstratively ignoredthe summons. Therefore, the investigator issued a resolution to force him to come, which was carried out," the representative noted.

The Prosecutor General's Office later said that Khodorkovsky had been brought to Moscow and he was questioned without attorneys.

However, Shadrin said that Khodorkovsky's lawyers had promptly notified the Prosecutor General's Office that Khodorkovsky was unable to come in for questioning.

"The summons was delivered to Yukos on Thursday. On the same day, the Prosecutor General's Office was informed that chairman ofthe board Khodorkovky was on a business trip. This was done in writing and over the phone," Shadrin said.

"The statement regarding a demonstrative refusal to go there isa lie," said the spokesman.

Earlier this month, Yukos completed its merger deal with Sibneft, another Russian oil company, to create the world's fourthlargest oil producer.

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