Mikhail Khodorkovsky,
Former Head Of Yukos

Allegedly, the money belongs to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former head of Yukos Oil Company. Investment houses registered with the Dublin International Financial Services Centre provided assistance in money placement. The suspicious transaction was reported about to the Irish police by the financial intelligence. At first investigation assumed that this large-scale transaction involved drug dealing or terrorism. There is no official information so far as to how the law enforcements agencies traced the frozen accounts to Mr Khodorkovsky. 

 

Another 35 million euros on accounts in Irish banks also came in view of the police. The former magnet may have a total of 200 million euros on these accounts which belong to third parties.  

 

The case is investigated by The Criminal Assets Bureau. The Bureau may file a petition to the court requesting a property confiscation order or an order allowing appropriation of the money on the accounts by the government. Police of other European states has already launched a check of banking accounts linked to the Irish ones. For instance, the British authorities are checking major off-shore accounts on the Channel Islands that may be linked to the Russian businessman.

 

The magnet’s lawyer, Yuri Schmidt, claims that until they receive information from reliable sources there will be no comments on the situation.