Putin blamed as Russian tycoon's verdict delayed

THE long-awaited verdict in the trial of the Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was postponed yesterday, prompting rumours that the high-profile case had been delayed to save president Vladimir Putin from embarrassment ahead of a visit to Moscow by dozens of world leaders next month.

A sheet of paper stuck to the door of Moscow’s tiny Meshchansky courthouse yesterday morning was the first anyone knew that the verdict on one of Russia’s richest men had been put back to next month.

The delay is likely to undermine confidence in Russia’s judicial system and dampen enthusiasm for investment.

No official explanation was forthcoming for the delay, prompting rumours to begin circulating.

"I think the judge is sick, that is what I heard," said one young official at Khodorkovsky’s press centre. His lawyers had a sterner explanation: they believe that the delay was ordered directly by Mr Putin, nervous that the verdict would leave him facing awkward questions when world leaders gather in Moscow on 9 May to mark the 60th anniversary of VE Day.

Khodorkovsky’s spokesman, Leonid Nevzlin, said: "By postponing the court’s ruling to a date after 9 May, when President Bush and other world leaders are expected to visit Russia, Putin once again shows the world that he holds his political opponents hostage. Only in a non-democratic country can the president intervene so blatantly in a legal process."

An opposition MP, Sergei Mitrokin of the Yabloko Party, said: "By 16 May all the leaders attending the celebrations will have gone home and then the authorities will pronounce their sentence."

Mr Putin was not commenting yesterday. He had chosen the day to be on a state visit to Egypt and Israel.

For a year and a half Moscow has been mesmerised by the sight of Khodorkovsky, once the country’s richest tycoon, with a 6 billion fortune, sitting behind bars in a tiny courthouse.

Officially Khodorkovsky, 41, is charged with fraud and tax evasion, but most here believe that this is a personal battle between the tycoon and the president.

Khodorkovsky’s arrest came in October 2003, shortly after he began using his billions to launch a challenge to Mr Putin in upcoming elections. Since then, the tycoon has protested his innocence from his prison cell, refusing to do a deal with prosecutors or admit guilt, and insisting the charges are manufactured.

In December, foreign investors got the jitters when Khodorkovsky’s company, the oil giant Yukos, was broken up and the main production plant sold back to the State for about half its estimated market value.

Last week, the United States Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, raised the stakes by saying that the West would measure the strength of Russia’s justice system by this week’s verdict.

All this guaranteed a huge audience for yesterday’s hearing and journalists arrived early at Meshchansky courthouse.

But what they found there was a surprise: the courthouse was closed, with a single piece of A4 paper stuck to the door announcing that the case had been postponed.

Khodorkovsky’s legal team insist that their man is innocent, pointing out that, alone among Russia’s mega-companies, Yukos was for years filing western-style audited accounts.