Khodorkovsky & Lebedev Communications Center

Bio:

Mr. Gulin worked at SP RTT from 1992 until 1998, where he was a specialist for registering companies in foreign jurisdictions. After leaving SP RTT, Mr. Gulin worked at Claverton Management Inc., where he held positions similar to those he had at SP RTT.

Testimony Dates:

November 26, November 27, November 30 and December 1, 2009

Testimony Summary:

Mr. Gulin described the functions of companies that provide "secretary services." According to Mr. Gulin, companies can transfer, by agreement, some of their responsibilities to other companies or persons. This could mean management of bank accounts or signing documents based on a power of attorney, particularly if the transferor was located in a different geographical location. Also a widely accepted practice was to turn over company book management, financial statements, and tax-related functions. In addition to company registration and administration, SP RTT acted as a trustee for various clients and could manage clients' funds. Mr. Gulin declined to explain a distinction between "administrative" and "secretary" services. At one point Mr. Gulin himself administered close to 150 companies.

Mr. Gulin testified about M.Q.D. International Ltd., a holding company managing stakes in a number of Russian companies. If business needs demanded that certain stakes were owned by foreign subsidiaries or vice-versa, M.Q.D. served as an intermediary for these transfers. Mr. Gulin, along with Mr. Anilionis, was M.Q.D.'s authorized representative in Russia. Mr. Gulin testified that "nominal directors" were used to formalize certain transactions and to sign documents.

In addition to M.Q.D., Messrs. Anilionis and Gulin served as authorized representatives for Baltic Petroleum Trading Ltd. and South Petroleum Limited. According to Mr. Gulin, South Petroleum purchased crude oil, while Baltic Petroleum purchased petroleum products.

Mr. Gulin testified that he knew Mr. Lebedev through frequent meetings attended at Mr. Lebedev's office. These meetings were attended by a number of other employees of Makarios Group, YUKOS and Trust and Investment Bank (DIB).

Throughout his testimony Mr. Gulin was shown a large number of documents which he commented on. Most of these contained his signature. Mr. Gulin told the court that he never had any doubts when he was signing any of the documents. He explained that, at first, he was signing while working for a company that was part of MENATEP-Rosprom-YUKOS group of companies. Then he was an employee of a company which had a contractual relationship with the aforementioned group. Both sides had staffs of qualified legal personnel who examined every proposed agreement. Finally, all transactions took place within the aforementioned group of companies, thus the multi-million dollar sums did not pose any concern. Mr. Gulin told the court that his last statement counted towards yesterday's discussion of M.Q.D.'s transactions with VNK shares, as well as about South Petroleum and Baltic Petroleum.

Mr. Gulin called into doubt several documents that were shown to him by the prosecution. Some did not contain any signatures, while a table of companies allegedly incorporated by SP RTT contained numerous spelling mistakes. Notably, the first time Mr. Gulin saw that table was when he was interrogated for the first time.

Transcripts and audio-tapes of Ms. Gulin's interrogations revealed a slew of leading questions, investigative bias and attempts at influencing Mr. Gulin's testimony. Afterwards, Mr. Gulin clarified, corrected and, even, disavowed some of his testimony. Mr. Lebedev asked Mr. Gulin to explain where the latter learned his information about the state of South Petroleum's finances in 2002, particularly when he told Mr. Ganiyev that South Petroleum retained "profit margins" on its balance sheet. Mr. Gulin admitted that he did not know anything about South Petroleum's financial state as 2002. Mr. Gulin told the court that he wanted to correct some of the testimony he gave in 2000, specifically about how he met Peter Bond of Valmet Isle of Man and Ms. Areti Charimidou, of Areti Charimidou & Associates. He told the court that he did not expect transcripts from his interrogations by Mr. Shumilov would be included in the case materials.

Mr. Gulin confirmed that Mr. Lebedev never ordered him to steal crude oil from Yuganskneftegaz, Samaraneftegaz and Tomskneft. Mr. Lebedev never forced him to act against his own will. As a matter of fact, Mr. Lebedev never ordered Mr. Gulin to do anything. Mr. Gulin thought of Mr. Lebedev's requests as proposals, which would be beneficial. Mr. Gulin added that he could refuse Mr. Lebedev's proposals, as he sometimes did.