MOSCOW, September 29 (RAPSI) – Ural Rakhimov has stolen shares in oil company Bashneft by allegedly taking advantage of the position of his father Murtaza Rakhimov, a former Bashkortostan President, according to Moscow City Court records.  

Bashneft was controlled by Russia’s Bashkortostan region until 2003, when a major stake was sold to entities linked with Ural Rakhimov.

In 2009, Vladimir Yevtushenkov's AFK Sistema gained control over the company.

Investigators in April opened a criminal case over the deals with Bashneft shares in 2002 to 2009. Both Rakhimov and Yevtushenkov are implicated in the case.

“From 2002 to 2006, Ural Rakhimov, acting with a group of unidentified individuals, using the official position of his father, organized and implemented a plan to steal blocking stakes in a number of companies that accumulated considerable monetary funds,” according to the court records.

The Moscow City Court held that the Bashneft shares had been stolen through the executive orders signed by Murtaza Rakhimov. 

Yevtushenkov was charged with money laundering in connection with Sistema's acquisition of Bashneft in 2009. He pleaded not guilty.

Yevtushenkov was denied 300-million-rubles ($7,8 mln) bail and placed under house arrest in his mansion near Moscow until November 16.

Local authorities in the region of Bashkortostan claim to be the injured party in the case. They have filed a lawsuit seeking 209 billion rubles (about $5.8 billion) from AFK Sistema.

Moscow's Basmanny District Court on September 18 upheld seizure of Bashneft shares.