Andrei Nikolaev-Polynovskiy accused of theft in Yukos affair

Alexei Sokovnin, Kommersant, 6.11.2008

On 10 October the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's office accused Nikolaev-Polynovskiy of misappropriating and legalising funds, as part of an organised group, to the value of almost $25 million.

On 21 October the Moscow City Court upheld the petition of the Prosecutor General's office that there were grounds for bring charges against the lawyer. On 5 November the Basmanny district court issued a warrant for his arrest.

Nikolaev-Polynovskiy’s defence team consider that the pursuit and prosecution of their client is due to the politicised character of the Yukos case and the desire of investigators to force the lawyer by the exertion of criminal pressure to reveal information that by law is protected as a confidential matter between lawyer and client.

Defence lawyer Robert Zinoviev said that his client left for medical treatment abroad in early January this year: Nikolaev-Polynovskiy is suffering from a severe nervous disorder. However, the Russian authorities could not demand his extradition without a decision to issue a warrant by a national court. That is why the investigators applied to the Basmanny district court in Moscow.

Although no representatives of the Investigative Committee attended the hearing on 5 November their petition was nevertheless examined. It was stated in that petition, read out in court by prosecutor Valery Larkin, that if Nikolaev-Polynovskiy remained at liberty he could put pressure on others accused in the same case. In particular, there was reference to Olesya Natsvina, the general director of Nikolaev-Polynovskiy’s law firm Intellekt, who is not allowed to leave the country. For this reason, Larkin declared, he fully supported the investigators’ petition.

Defence lawyer Robert Zinoviev asserted that his client could not put pressure on Ms Natsvina since he was abroad (until recently having medical treatment in Italy) and she was in Russia. Furthermore, Zinoviev pointed out, neither the investigators nor the court had considered it necessary to verify that the defence were speaking the truth when they said that the co-founder of the Intellekt group of companies was indeed ill. Zinoviev referred to medical examination by doctors that stated unambiguously that Andrei Nikolaev-Polynovskiy was suffered from a severe nervous disorder and required in-patient treatment.

His client was a victim of the Yukos affair, added Zinoviev. “Thanks to the active involvement of my client’s company Tomskneft-VNK plc managed to reduce their tax claims by more than 7 billion roubles,” said the lawyer. “During the course of those trials in the arbitration courts, however, Mr Nikolaev-Polynovskiy acquired confidential information that the investigators demanded he reveal to them. My client refused to do so and, as a result, the investigators turned him from a witness into one of the accused and now have issued a warrant for his arrest.” In early September, said Zinoviev, the European Court of Human Rights agreed to examine a complaint about the lawyer’s unlawful harassment by the Russian authorities.

Judge Natalya Dudar nevertheless agreed with the investigators’ arguments and upheld their petition for the detention of the lawyer Andrei Nikolaev-Polynovskiy. “We categorically disagree with this court decision and shall appeal,” said Zinoviev after the hearing.