Khodorkovsky: answer to British investors' proposal should be given by Yukos board of directors

Vassily Shakhnovsky, the ex-head of the YUKOS-Moskva company, quotes the oil company YUKOS former head Mikhail Khodorkovsky as giving the following comments on the proposal by British investors to buy out part of the Menatep Group share package: "I have conveyed my right to dispose of the share package to the YUKOS board of directors and they are entitled to offering any solution they want."

"The British investors have made their proposal and the board of directors is to decide whether to accept it or not," said Shakhnovsky, quoting the former YUKOS boss.

Khodorkovsky's lawyer Genrikh Padva reports that his defendant welcomes any action conducive to the settlement of this situation but it is the board of directors that have the say and Khodorkovsky hopes that the board will take a right decision."

The British consortium of private investors, according to foreign media reports, has sent a letter to the Russian government with the proposal to settle for the YUKOS company its debt arrears and, if need be, meet monetary claims upon the company's share-holder Khodorkovsky in exchange for his YUKOS share.