Yukos hit as caged pair go on trial
13 April 2012
SHARES in oil giant Yukos hit a two-year low as two former bosses went on trial locked in a metal cage in a Moscow court. Yukos has warned that a £2bn tax claim could push it into bankruptcy.
The Moscow stock market fell 2% on fears that President Vladimir Putin is bent on destroying Yukos, which has been banned from selling assets to pay the tax.
At one point its shares slumped 20% in two days. They rallied, but are still down two-thirds since April.
The tax case will be heard on Friday. Stockbrokers say the confrontation could cause a big sell-off of Russian stocks.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky - rated Russia's richest man - and Platon Lebedev are accused of fraud in buying 20% of fertiliser group Apatit, privatised in 1994.
