Russian prosecutors have asked Spain to extradite Antonio Valdes Garcia, a former associate of Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky who fled from house arrest in the midst of a money-laundering trial involving the bankrupt oil company two years ago.
The request for Valdes Garcia's extradition was sent to Spanish authorities Tuesday, Prosecutor General's Office spokeswoman Marina Gridneva said, news reports said Wednesday.
Valdes Garcia, a Russian-born Spanish national, is the former head of Fargoil, a former Yukos oil-trading subsidiary that plays a central role in the second trial against Khodorkovsky, which is currently under way at Moscow's Khamovnichesky District Court.
Valdes Garcia was due to have been sentenced over his involvement in a purported embezzling scheme, but he fled from house arrest in Moscow in January 2007 after reportedly locking his police guards inside his apartment.
The chances that Valdes Garcia would be extradited remain unclear, as Spain does not extradite its own citizens.
The Spanish Embassy in Moscow said Wednesday that it would not comment on individual cases. An embassy spokesman said cooperation with the Russian justice system was very good and that Spain had extradited Russian nationals to their homeland.
"But it is legally not possible to extradite Spanish citizens [from Spain]," the embassy spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity.
Russian prosecutors reckon that Spain could grant extradition because they believe that Valdes Garcia may have obtained his Spanish passport illegally, Kommersant reported Wednesday.
His lawyer, Roman Karpinsky, told The Moscow Times on Wednesday that Valdes Garcia was born in Russia but that one of his parents is a Spanish citizen. Karpinsky said he did not know whether it is his mother or father who is a Spaniard.
Repeated calls to the Prosecutor General's Office went unanswered Wednesday.
Yelena Liptser, a lawyer for Khodorkovsky and his co-defendant, Platon Lebedev, confirmed that Valdes Garcia claimed to have been badly beaten and mishandled while in authorities' custody after he voluntarily returned to Russia in 2005.
"We had a written declaration from him read out at the trial [of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev] in April," she told The Moscow Times.
Prosecutors claim that from 2000 to 2003, Yukos officials illegally transferred $13 billion in crude oil sales out of the country through Fargoil, a wholly owned Yukos subsidiary run at the time by Valdes Garcia. Transfers were also made through Ratibor, another Yukos trading arm, prosecutors allege.
Prosecutors claim that Fargoil's revenues from refined oil sales were transferred back to Yukos while the profits were siphoned off by Khodorkovsky and his associates.
The allegations are central to prosecutors' current case against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, who stand to be freed from prison in 2011 after serving an eight-year sentence on fraud and tax charges.
The request for Valdes Garcia's extradition was sent to Spanish authorities Tuesday, Prosecutor General's Office spokeswoman Marina Gridneva said, news reports said Wednesday.
Valdes Garcia, a Russian-born Spanish national, is the former head of Fargoil, a former Yukos oil-trading subsidiary that plays a central role in the second trial against Khodorkovsky, which is currently under way at Moscow's Khamovnichesky District Court.
Valdes Garcia was due to have been sentenced over his involvement in a purported embezzling scheme, but he fled from house arrest in Moscow in January 2007 after reportedly locking his police guards inside his apartment.
The chances that Valdes Garcia would be extradited remain unclear, as Spain does not extradite its own citizens.
The Spanish Embassy in Moscow said Wednesday that it would not comment on individual cases. An embassy spokesman said cooperation with the Russian justice system was very good and that Spain had extradited Russian nationals to their homeland.
"But it is legally not possible to extradite Spanish citizens [from Spain]," the embassy spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity.
Russian prosecutors reckon that Spain could grant extradition because they believe that Valdes Garcia may have obtained his Spanish passport illegally, Kommersant reported Wednesday.
His lawyer, Roman Karpinsky, told The Moscow Times on Wednesday that Valdes Garcia was born in Russia but that one of his parents is a Spanish citizen. Karpinsky said he did not know whether it is his mother or father who is a Spaniard.
Repeated calls to the Prosecutor General's Office went unanswered Wednesday.
Yelena Liptser, a lawyer for Khodorkovsky and his co-defendant, Platon Lebedev, confirmed that Valdes Garcia claimed to have been badly beaten and mishandled while in authorities' custody after he voluntarily returned to Russia in 2005.
"We had a written declaration from him read out at the trial [of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev] in April," she told The Moscow Times.
Prosecutors claim that from 2000 to 2003, Yukos officials illegally transferred $13 billion in crude oil sales out of the country through Fargoil, a wholly owned Yukos subsidiary run at the time by Valdes Garcia. Transfers were also made through Ratibor, another Yukos trading arm, prosecutors allege.
Prosecutors claim that Fargoil's revenues from refined oil sales were transferred back to Yukos while the profits were siphoned off by Khodorkovsky and his associates.
The allegations are central to prosecutors' current case against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, who stand to be freed from prison in 2011 after serving an eight-year sentence on fraud and tax charges.