Spain did not give in

The Malaga court found no evidence that Yukos illegally withdrew money through European companies. This case of laundering 152 million euros in Spain was initiated in 2005 (at that time it was still about 250 million), and, according to Spanish investigators, part of the funds could have been withdrawn from YUKOS circulation. This version, naturally, was confirmed by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office. The Spanish police officers who participated in the investigation were awarded Russian orders and medals, Kommersant notes. However, Judge Julián Cabrero concluded that Yukos employees had nothing to do with this story. Moreover, the trial itself was suspended due to the fact that the investigation was unable to provide the court with evidence of the criminal origin of the funds allegedly laundered in Spain, the newspaper writes.

Some lawyers associated with YUKOS - Vadim Klyuvgant, representing the interests of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Roman Karpinsky, collaborating with the former head of the Fargoil company previously controlled by YUKOS, Antonio Valdes-Garcia - did not know about this case at all. One of the former top managers of Yukos told the newspaper that in 2005, before the verdict in the first case of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, Russian authorities were interested in “presenting Yukos as a criminal community whose members operated not only in Russia but also abroad “However, no one from Yukos had any commercial interests in Spain.