New accounts frozen in Switzerland in connection with YUKOS case

The Basmanny Court in Moscow has sanctioned the freezing of the bank accounts of nine companies in Switzerland in connection with the so-called "YUKOS case." A source in the court told RBC today that following a request from the General Prosecutor's Office, the court had frozen all accounts of Apatit Fertilaizers S.A., Polifert AG Seestatt AG, Nord West AG, Behles Petroleum S.A., South Petroleum Limited, Baltik Petroleum Trading Limited, Petroval S.A., PFH Atlantic Petroleum Limited, Karran Tankers Limited at the UBS AG bank (Zurich) as property acquired as a result of criminal activity of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former CEO of YUKOS, and other persons involved in the "YUKOS case."

The court also ruled to freeze the personal accounts of a number of lawyers and executives. The court considers the money in these accounts to be the property of the accused that was acquired as a result of criminal activity and was handed over to these persons for storage.

Lawyers for Khodorkovsky and other accused in the "YUKOS case" have earlier filed an appeal against the Bassmanny Court decision to sanction the freezing of accounts of YUKOS shareholders and a group of 20 other persons in Switzerland, totaling about $5bn. The Moscow City Court has not yet set a date for hearing this appeal.

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