VTB Says Khodorkovsky Case ‘Detrimental’ to Investors

The new sentence handed to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of Yukos Oil Co., may have “unintended repercussions” for business in Russia, state- controlled VTB Capital said.

Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, will probably remain in prison for six years beyond an initial eight-year sentence, after Moscow Judge Viktor Danilkin found him guilty of money laundering and embezzling oil yesterday. Danilkin said the former billionaire will serve a total prison term of 14 years.

“This court decision is much more detrimental to the investment climate than the original tax fraud case,” Alexey Zabotkin and Aleksandra Evtifyeva, economists at VTB Capital in Moscow, said in the note to investors today. “Unless overturned by the higher court, this ruling could have unintended repercussions that are more damaging than those.”

Investors pulled $9.5 billion out of Russia in 2004 partly on concerns that then-President Vladimir Putin failed to protect property rights. President Dmitry Medvedev, who has made it his administration’s goal to combat corruption and attract foreign investors to reduce Russia’s reliance on raw materials, said this week that a top priority for 2011 is to improve the investment climate.

‘Disturbing’ Rational

Khodorkovsky’s and Lebedev’s lawyers today filed a preliminary appeal of his conviction on oil theft and money laundering. The full appeal will be filed after the defense team receives a copy of the verdict, expected in January, Karina Moskalenko, one of Khodorkovsky’s lawyers, said today by phone.

The “most disturbing detail” was the court’s rationale for the verdict, the VTB analysts said. Charges based on Yukos’s use of internal transfer pricing, which redistributes cash flows among units of a holding company, creates a precedent that leaves other business open “to attack.”

U.S. and European government officials criticized the conviction of Khodorkovsky and his former business partner Platon Lebedev, saying it weakened the rule of law in Russia and would harm Russia’s image among investors.

“The opinions expressed there should not and cannot in any way influence court decisions in Russia,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today.

Khodorkovsky, 47, has called the charges retribution for political opposition to Putin. Previously due for release in 2011, Khodorkovsky will now remain in prison until after the 2012 presidential election that may return Putin to the Kremlin. Putin has denied any involvement in the case.

No Connection

“There is no connection between the verdict and the investment climate in Russia,” Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said yesterday, declining to comment on whether the trial and verdict were fair. “Thus we can hardly talk about any potential influence on the investment climate.”

Seasoned investors in Russia expected a conviction and have already priced it into the market, Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib Financial Corp., said in a note earlier this week. “By the time Moscow’s markets start on Jan. 11, the case will already be last year’s news,” he said.

The 30-stock Micex Index rose 0.6 percent yesterday to 1,687.99, bringing the year’s gains to 23 percent as it closed for the New Year holidays.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anastasia Ustinova in St. Petersburg at austinova@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez in Prague jagomez@bloomberg.net

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Former Yukos Head Khodorkovsky to Spend 14 Years in Prison

Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images

Yukos oil company former chief executive officer Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Yukos oil company former chief executive officer Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Photographer: Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images

Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of Yukos Oil Co., will spend 14 years in prison, including time already served on previous charges. Judge Viktor Danilkin sentenced Khodorkovsky to 13 1/2 years for embezzling oil and money laundering in a Moscow court today. The term will start from 2003, when Khodorkovsky was arrested in relation to a previous case, he said. Bloomberg's Elliot Gotkine reports. (Source: Bloomberg)