MOSCOW, July 18 (UPI) -- A Russian court convicted Antonio Valdes-Garcia, the former head of Yukos oil company's trading unit Fargoil, of embezzlement and money-laundering Monday.
Valdes-Garcia was convicted in absentia because Spain has refused to extradite him since he fled Russia for his homeland in 2006, RIA Novosti reported.
Russian prosecutors charged that Yukos illegally transferred $13 billion in crude oil sales out of the country through its subsidiary Fargoil from 2000 to 2003, RIA Novosti reported. Valdes-Garcia was accused of buying oil from Yukos-affiliated companies at a huge discount then reselling it at inflated prices from 2001 to 2003.
Valdes-Garcia was arrested at a Moscow airport in June 2005.
The investigation into the embezzlement and money-laundering began in 2004 when prosecutors started examining money transfers made through Fargoil and Ratibor, another Yukos trading unit.
Ratibor President Vladimir Malakhovsky and Vladimir Pereverzin, the former deputy head of Yukos' foreign debt directorate, were arrested in December 2004. In March 2007, Malakhovsky was sentenced to 11 years in prison and Pereverzin to 12 years in prison for their roles in the scheme, RIA Novosti reported.
