Khodorkovsky & Lebedev Communications Center

Morning Session.

As the trial resumed, Mr. Lebedev began cross-examining Mr. G. P. Anilionis, director of SP RTT. As the day progressed, it became apparent that Mr. Lebedev was going to focus his attention on implicating Mr. Anilionis, by using his in-court testimony, interrogation, Basmanny Court transcripts and documents from the case file.

In quick succession, with some prodding from Mr. Lebedev, Mr. Anilionis confirmed that he did not know anything about the exchange of Tomskneft's and other VNK subsidiaries' shares for YUKOS shares, and that he learned about allegations of crude oil embezzlement from the media.

Mr. Anilionis testified that he never received any orders from Mr. Lebedev concerning the share exchange. According to Mr. Anilionis, neither he nor Mr. Gulin received Mr. Lebedev's orders to embezzle crude oil from YUKOS' production subsidiaries. Although Mr. Anilionis, as he would many more times during the hearing, did not remember how many times he visited Mr. Lebedev's office, he was certain that he never heard Mr. Lebedev or Mr. Lebedev's employees discuss crude oil embezzlement.

Mr. Anilionis was less certain about what connection SP RTT, the company he managed, had with the incorporation of YUKOS-RM and YUKOS-EP. Even after examining several documents showing that Mss. Kharlamova and Borodina, two SP RTT employees, signed for the two founding member companies of YUKOS-RM, Mr. Anilionis preferred to remain ambiguous, telling the court that his deputies could act without his orders. Mr. Anilionis did not know when Mr. Bychkov replaced Mr. Lebedev as the head of YUKOS-RM

Mr. Lebedev sought to find out where Mr. Anilionis got the information that Mr. Lebedev was the Chief Financial Officer of YUKOS. Hearing names of Messrs. Soublen and Misamore, Mr. Anilionis remembered that, at some point, YUKOS hired some "foreigners" to work on its management team, but he did not know their functions. However, Mr. Anilionis insisted that, when he visited YUKOS offices, he always heard that Mr. Lebedev handled all financial questions.

Prior to moving on to a different topic, Mr. Lebedev asked whether Messrs. Bychkov, Soublen or Misamore ordered Mr. Anilionis to embezzle crude oil. Mr. Anilionis denied anything of the sort ever happened.

Mr. Lebedev, telling the court that he was going to ask questions aimed at clarifying contradictions in Mr. Anilionis's testimony, asked whether YUKOS indeed sold crude oil based on export contracts. Mr. Anilionis mentioned South Petroleum and Behles Petroleum for sales during 1997 through early 2001. Mr. Lebedev asked whether it would appropriate to identify sales prior to early 2000 as "the old method" while 2000 through 2003 as "the new method." As Mr. Anilionis was agreeing, Mr. Lakhtin objected, demanding that Mr. Lebedev stop asking leading questions and refer to specific passages in witness's testimony or the official trial transcript. Mr. Krasnov was ready to ask the court to adjourn the hearing for the time required to make the official trial transcript, but the court asked Mr. Lebedev to adjust the style of his questions instead.

Mr. Lebedev got into Mr. Anilionis's transcripts. Mr. Anilionis, with his transcript before him, could not explain what he meant when using terminology such as "real person," "real market" and "real price," when discussing crude oil sales with Mr. Karimov. After some pauses and furtive looks toward the prosecution's table, Mr. Anilionis, expressing annoyance, answered each of the questions with the term Mr. Lebedev was asking about.

Mr. Anilionis was asked to acquaint himself with a document called "YUKOS: The Export Sales Project, 1 January 1998 through 31 August 1999," drafted by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Lebedev quickly explained that he and the witness would have to work with the English version because translator Gribov did not input any figures into his translation. PWC listed YUKOS counter-parties whose contracts were selected for review and analysis - Behles Petroleum, Lansiano (Cyprus), SWE-BEL Partner AB, Elf Trading and Total International. Mr. Anilionis, who previously displayed uncanny knowledge of crude oil trading industry, was willing to concede that transactions with Behles "were real," but insisted that he did not know anything about other traders. Asked whether he ever signed crude oil sales contracts with Elf or Total, Mr. Anilionis, another look at the prosecutors, told the court that he did not remember.

Mr. Lebedev asked Mr. Anilionis to explain his comment that "YUKOS trading with offshore companies meant questions from Russia's tax authorities." Mr. Anilionis, his tone of voice rising, told the court that he meant it was prestigious to trade with companies from places like Switzerland. Mr. Lebedev, asked whether Mr. Anilionis, while representing "offshore" South Petroleum, signed any crude oil sales purchase contracts in 2001. Although this information was part of Mr. Anilionis's testimony at Basmanny Court, Mr. Lakhtin demanded to know what Mr. Lebedev was asking the witness about. Mr. Anilionis did not know that all major crude oil traders, including the aforementioned Elf Trading and Total International, were located in so-called "offshore zones." Mr. Anilionis did not remember whether he ever signed any contracts with Total International on South Petroleum's behalf, either.

Mr. Anilionis, beginning to forget more and more, did not remember seeing any crude oil sales contracts with his signature, while at Basmanny Court. Mr. Anilionis, looking at the transcript from that hearing, informed the court that he never confirmed he signed any of the contracts he was shown back then. Instead, he insisted that he expressed doubts, as evident by his reply "the signature looks like mine." Furthermore, now Mr. Anilionis told the court he always doubted the authenticity of what he was being shown, because the company name seemed to be wrong. [As it happens, Mr. Anilionis did not voice any of these suspicions when testifying at the Malahovsky/Pereverzin trial. -Eds.]

Mr. Anilionis, who has three doctorate degrees, was unable to tell the court whether PWC's formula for calculating "netback" crude oil export price accorded with his understanding. Meanwhile, Mr. Lakhtin demanded to stop "this outrage," telling the court that the witness already told the court he was not a specialist when it came to the subject of crude oil trading.

Mr. Anilionis was shown PWC figures which confirmed that YUKOS received a higher price for its crude oil exports than was the industry average and more than LUKOIL, its nearest competitor. Mr. Anilionis, faced with these figures, insisted that he did not discuss "real crude oil prices," when interrogated by Mr. Karimov, but was only giving examples.

Mr. Lebedev asked whether crude oil traders, like Behles, Elf and Total, shouldn't be allowed to profit on crude oil transactions and if they did - all the profits should have been "brought back to Russia." Mr. Anilionis, faced with the reality of crude oil trading business model, told the court that he did not know and could not answer the question.

Mr. Krasnov, who took over briefly for Mr. Lebedev, asked about Mr. Anilionis's education, particularly what doctorates he had. Mr. Lakhtin objected, then interrupted the court, which resulted in an on-the-record warning. Mr. Krasnov, however, was unable to get an answer from Mr. Anilionis as the question was struck.

Mr. Lebedev returned to questions about Behles Petroleum and Mr. Anilionis' assertions, made during interrogations and in Basmanny Court, that "we" - meaning Messrs. Anilionis, Gulin and Gusarov - incorporated Behles Petroleum. Mr. Lebedev asked where all three of these gentlemen were in 1972. As the PWC audit of Behles Petroleum showed, the company was in Geneva, in January 1972, but Mr. Anilionis continued to insist that Mr. Gusarov told him he registered the company. Mr. Lebedev reminded Mr. Anilionis that the latter testified in Basmanny court that Behles was also purchased prior to registration. He asked who paid and who received the funds. Mr. Anilionis said he did not know, because he wasn't the one paying.

Mr. Lebedev, who preciously asked Mr. Anilionis several questions about Jurby Lake Limited and Peter Bond, whom Mr. Anilionis insisted owned and controlled Behles Petroleum, asked whether Mr. Anilionis knew that a Luxembourg-based trust always owned the aforementioned crude oil trader. Mr. Anilionis did not know.

The cross-examination was becoming more contentious. Mr. Lebedev asked Mr. Anilionis to explain what the latter understood and meant by "owner," "holder" and "shareholder." "Ask me a specific question. I am not an expert in Russian!" Mr. Anilionis shot back. Mr. Lebedev asked the court if an interpreter should be provided. "I'm not a specialist in Russian, either!" Mr. Lakhtin was up defending his witness. He insisted that the witness already affirmed all interrogation transcripts.

Mr. Anilionis began to deny knowing anything. He did not know what Mr. Lebedev meant when asking about "nominal holders" or "nominal owners." He did not know that Mr. Gulin and he used to be Behles Petroleum's authorized representatives. However, the most important "I don't know" came when Mr. Lebedev asked whether Mr. Anilionis actually knew who owned Behles Petroleum.

Afternoon Session.

As the trial resumed, Mr. Lebedev asked Mr. Anilionis about origins of two contracts that were now part of the case materials. He reminded the witness that during his interrogation by Mr. Karimov, Mr. Anilionis described two transactions for purchase of promissory notes involving Baltic and South and Arley. Mr. Anilionis described these transactions as selling of "candy wrappers" and "blatant theft," because South was getting worthless papers, while paying $15 million USD. Mr. Anilionis was shown same contracts by Mr. Lakhtin. Looking confused, Mr. Anilionis insisted that he did not know where the investigators obtained the aforementioned contracts and who translated them. Mr. Lebedev inquired whether Mr. Anilionis may have brought them to his interrogation. Mr. Anilionis insisted that he did not.

First, Mr. Lebedev asked for Volume 32 and asked Mr. Anilionis to look at a document found on pp. 2-6. These pages contained a copy of a search and seizure protocol, describing the contents of Mr. Anilionis's briefcase, including the aforementioned contracts, which the latter brought to his interrogation by Mr. Karimov, on January 18, 2007. After a pointed look at the prosecutors, Mr. Anilionis immediately changed the version of what took place. The documents could have come from him, but there were so many search and seizure raids being conducted at his company's offices and so many of the employees were dragged through interrogations that it was easier to bring the documents over to investigators.

Mr. Lebedev wasn't finished. He asked Mr. Anilionis to closely examine the South Petroleum/Arley Limited promissory note purchase agreement and to tell the court who was actually the seller and who was actually the buyer in that transaction. [During interrogation by Mr. Karimov and on February 24, Mr. Anilionis testified that these purchases were for worthless pieces of paper and means of taking money out of South and Baltic. -Eds.] Mr. Anilionis, conveniently forgetting all knowledge of English language, was offered a chance to examine the contract's translation, as Judge Danilkin asked Mr. Lebedev not to ask any language-based questions. The result was the same - South Petroleum was selling promissory notes to Arley Limited, and was being paid close to $16 million USD. Mr. Anilionis feigned surprise at the "newly discovered" information and could not explain why he told the court exactly opposite just a few days ago.

Mr. Lebedev questioned Mr. Anilionis on the second contract. Baltic Petroleum was getting paid over $10 million USD by Arley Limited, purchaser of promissory notes. Mr. Lebedev asked where Mr. Anilionis got the information he was sharing with Mr. Karimov. "I'm really surprised. I don't know what happened. I always thought things happened [the other way around]," Mr. Anilionis told the court.

Mr. Lebedev's use of the phrase "falsely testifying in court" prompted an immediate reaction from Mr. Anilionis. He told the court that if he was to continue to answer questions without understanding what was happening, he would be incriminating himself. Mr. Anilionis asked whether he could use the right not to do so. Mr. Lakhtin was only too eager to protect Mr. Anilionis, telling the court that Mr. Lebedev was besmirching Mr. Anilionis's reputation. Judge Danilkin informed the witness that the right against self-incrimination was available to him.

But the cross-examination continued. Mr. Anilionis did not know who purchased and owned South Petroleum and Baltic Petroleum, although he testified in Basmanny Court that SP RTT purchased those companies. No information was forthcoming about Riggs Valmet. Mr. Anilionis was in a full "I don't know" mode.

After a short break, Mr. Anilionis told the court that he would like to be able to leave not later than 16:30, "to show my face at the office," as he put it.

Mr. Lebedev asked about Mr. Anilionis's knowledge of Messrs. Samuelson, Ryan, Curtis and Bond. Mr. Anilionis, who previously opined about Mr. Bond, told the court that he only knew Mr. Bond. Mr. Lebedev asked whether it was Mr. Bond who purchased 20% of Riggs Valmet from Bank MENATEP. Mr. Anilionis did not know.

As the clock was fast approaching 16:30, Mr. Lebedev asked Mr. Anilionis about South Petroleum and who provided its brokerage services. First, Mr. Anilionis, sounding reluctant, told the court that the company "really traded" on the crude oil market. Next, examining a brokerage service agreement, which he signed on South Petroleum's behalf, he remembered that those services were provided by YUKOS Brokerage Limited, a fully-owned subsidiary of YUKOS (UK) Limited, itself a fully-owned subsidiary of YUKOS. Mr. Anilionis did not know what was meant by "brokerage services" and was done for the day.

The trial will resume on Tuesday, March 2, 10:00 Moscow Time.