Bailiffs to collect $600m from jailed oil tycoon

Russian bailiffs announced today that they were moving to collect more $600m (€488m) from jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky that was awarded by a Moscow court, a Russian news agency reported.

Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, was sentenced in May on tax evasion and fraud charges and he and business partner Platon Lebedev are now serving out eight-year prison sentences, in what observers have called a politically-motivated case.

“The debtors’ money, securities and real estate will be used to pay the debt,” the bailiffs’ service was quoted by the Interfax agency as saying.

Khodorkovsky’s oil empire Yukos was partly transferred to the state at the height of a disputed tax probe in December 2004, marking the start of an apparent state drive to reclaim influence in the crucial oil industry.

Since then, the state has gained control more than 30% of Russia’s oil output.