| The Prosecutor General's Office on Thursday searched the
office of the Yabloko party's campaigner, the Agency for Strategic Communications
(ASK). A group of the Prosecutor General's Office and FSB investigators
arrived at the agency's office on Thursday morning, produced a search warrant
issued as part of the investigation into alleged theft and tax evasion
by companies affiliated with YUKOS.
"The warrant stated that the search was being conducted in relation
to tax evasion by entities linked to YUKOS," one of the agency's
employees told Gazeta.Ru. "I do not remember the exact wording, but
it refers to the investigation into OAO Apatit". To recap, one of
the top shareholders in YUKOS, chairman of Menatep Group Platon Lebedev,
arrested in July this year, has been charged with tax evasion and embezzlement
of budget funds during the 1994 privatisation of the country's leading
fertiliser plant Apatit.
Director of the agency Vadim Malkin told Gazeta.Ru that ASK had no connection
whatsoever with YUKOS archives. "Such assertions are sheer nonsense,"
Malkin said. He confirmed that the agency has been providing consulting
services to Yabloko in the run-up to the parliamentary elections.
The Prosecutor General's Office on Thursday confirmed that the search
at the ASK offices was conducted as part of the YUKOS case. "Investigative
actions are being carried as part of the criminal investigation into theft
and tax evasion by several structures controlled by the oil company YUKOS,"
the PGO information directorate said on Thursday. "Investigators
are interested in the company's databases and financial documents. Investigative
actions are carried out in strict compliance with the law, in the presence
of witnesses."
See also:
State Duma elections
2003
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