Federal prosecutor investigated over Yukos probe
The Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office is being investigated for its role in freezing assets linked to Russia’s Yukos oil company.
Its main shareholder accuses the Swiss justice authorities of breach of official secrecy rules.
Yves Maître, a cantonal prosecutor, said the Swiss government appointed him in August to lead an investigation into the Federal Prosecutor’s Office.
“I have been appointed special prosecutor with a six month mandate”; Maître confirmed a report published in the newspaper, NZZ am Sonntag.
The Prosecutor’s Office, led by Valentin Roschacher, has refused to comment.
Maître said the Gibraltar-based company, Menatep, the main shareholder in Yukos, filed a complaint earlier this year.
Frozen accounts
Menatep accuses the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of illegally passing on a document, dating from March 10, 2004, to the Russian authorities during an inquiry into Yukos.
The Swiss justice authorities allegedly gave information about a record SFr6.2 billion ($5.3 billion) of Yukos assets held in five Swiss banks.
The money was officially frozen two weeks later, as part of a Russian probe into fraud and tax evasion.
However, Switzerland’s highest court in June ordered the release of most of funds blocked at the request of the Russian authorities.
The Federal Court said the measures taken by the Swiss Prosecutor’s Office had been disproportionate and had lacked sufficient information from Russia for legal assistance.
Lawyers of the former head of Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, also accused the Swiss authorities of acting hastily.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed the allegations.
swissinfo with agencies
The Swiss Prosecutor’s Office is being probed for its role in a Russian inquiry into the oil company, Yukos.
The Office in March froze SFr6.2 billion ($5.3 billion) in Yukos assets held in Swiss banks, but had to release them three months later.
The Russian authorities asked the Switzerland for legal assistance pending a legal investigation into fraud and tax evasion.
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