Khodorkovsky & Lebedev Communications Center

The entire Monday session was spent listening to Ms. Ibragimova's reading of Mr. Golubovich's interrogation transcripts and audio tapes, where available. Most of the topics covered by investigators were irrelevant to the charges and it seemed that investigators were interested in digging up as much as they could on YUKOS, Group MENATEP and various persons. Mr. Golubovich sounded eager to help, sometimes providing terminology that became standard use for investigators, even going so far as to use "we" when suggesting to Messrs. Ganiyev and Karimov on how to best approach their investigation. As audio tapes were played back after Ms. Ibragimova finished reading a particular transcript, Mr. Khodorkovsky highlighted to the court mistakes and inconsistencies between the written and the audio versions of Mr. Golubovich's interrogations.

On Tuesday, after the prosecution concluded reading Mr. Golubovich's transcripts, Mr. Lakhtin spent the rest of the morning session hammering in some of Mr. Golubovich's testimony. As Messrs. Khodorkovsky and Lebedev's objections to Mr. Lakhtin misleading the witness with the premise of his questions were met with an irritated reaction from Mr. Lakhtin. For example, when Mr. Lebedev objected to Mr. Lakhtin's question whether Mr. Khodorkovsky ordered Mr. Golubovich to purchase shares for Mr. Khodorkovsky's personal use, Mr. Lakhtin's reaction was to demand that the court stop Mr. Lebedev's objections or halt the proceedings.

As the defense began cross-examining Mr. Golubovich, he spent the rest of the day clarifying and explaining his prior testimony. Mr. Khodorkovsky, point-by-point, went over major inconsistencies in the transcripts heard starting from the previous Friday. Mr. Golubovich confirmed that YUKOS paid dividends to all and not just majority shareholders. YUKOS production companies, even if they did not pay out dividends, operated at a profit. Mr. Golubovich was unable to explain some of the statements he made to investigators while not having documents before him. As the hearing proceeded, Mr. Khodorkovsky was frequently interrupted by Mr. Lakhtin and Ms. Ibragimova, the latter arguing that Mr. Khodorkovsky re-asked same questions until he got the answer he wanted. As the prosecution asked to adjourned earlier, Mr. Khodorkovsky did not object, but expressed hope for a more constructive hearing proceeding the next time the parties were back in court.

On Thursday, Mr. Khodorkovsky's wish did not materialize, as the hearing proceeded with continued interruptions from Mr. Lakhtin, who was objecting primarily to interrupt the flow of questions and answers between the defendants and the witness. The session itself ended well past 20:00, as the defendants sought to obtain as much testimony as they could from Mr. Golubovich, who informed the court that he needed to leave for London the next day, with no clearly defined date of his return.

Messrs. Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, despite the latter suffering the effects of a severe cold, questioned Mr. Golubovich on topics ranging from VNK share exchanges to crude oil sales to Mr. Golubovich's being Group MENATEP's shareholder. When not declining to answer a question or citing a lack of memory, Mr. Golubovich's answers generally corrected his earlier testimony.

Mr. Golubovich admitted that he never heard Messrs. Khodorkovsky and Lebedev discuss the illegal taking of Apatit, or its products, the acquisition of VNK by illegal means, gratuitous taking of Tomskneft, Achinskiy Refinery and other VNK subsidiaries' shares. Neither Mr. Khodorkovsky nor Mr. Lebedev ever made offers to Mr. Golubovich to participate in anything illegal. Mr. Golubovich admitted that Mr. Khodorkovsky never presented him with a question about how to embezzle crude oil.

Mr. Golubovich confirmed that investigators did not question him about crude oil. Mr. Khodorkovsky was "surprised," considering that he was being charged with embezzling crude oil. He went on to ask Mr. Golubovich whether the difference in price between Rotterdam prices and intra-company prices was widely known. Mr. Golubovich, without remembering specific prices, told the court that crude oil prices in Western Europe were several times higher than those from crude-oil production regions within Russia.

On Friday, Mr. Lebedev presented the court, through his questioning of Mr. Golubovich, with a picture of what happened to YUKOS' assets. As explained by Mr. Khodorkovsky, Mr. Lebedev was asking questions about Yuganskneftegaz's sale by court bailiffs and a premier Sochi resort going on the YUKOS bankruptcy auction block for 10 kopeks because "We're trying to establish: What happened to [YUKOS] assets."

Questioned by Messrs. Lebedev and Krasnov, Mr. Golubovich's testimony revealed further inconsistencies with his earlier statements to investigators and during the trial. Mr. Golubovich was unable to adequately explain contradicting statements about the MCO valuation report, the threat posed by Birkenholz and the alleged unprofitability of Yuganskneftegaz. Being evasive where he could, Mr. Golubovich often relied on the passage of time and claimed that he did not remember the specific circumstances of what he was questioned about.

Before Mr. Golubovich rushed to catch his flight to London, the court heard testimony about the YUKOS consolidation plan of its production subsidiaries, the purpose behind YUKOS' acquisition of collection rights to Bank MENATEP and the role played by Mr. Golubovich in these enterprises. In addition, Mr. Golubovich testified that Messrs. Khodorkovsky and Lebedev never pressured him to sign anything.

Before the trial was adjourned until Monday, Mr. Lebedev filed a motion asking the court to exclude seven interrogation transcripts, including an April 9, 2008 interrogation of Mr. Golubovich, citing violations of the Criminal Procedure Code. As was explained in Mr. Lebedev's motion, investigator Nikandrov, who interrogated Mr. Golubovich, prior to joining investigator Alyshev's investigative team, was used by Mr. Alyshev as a participating witness during a search and seizure conducted at the Volgograd office of SP RTT.

The trial will resume on Monday, January 25, 10:30 Moscow Time.