Germany investigating Russia’s jailed Khodorkovsky: report

Germany had opened an investigation into Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed former chief of now-defunct Russian oil giant Yukos, for alleged money laundering, a German newspaper reported.

The investigation into Khodorkovsky was for alleged money laundering, according to a report to be published in Saturday’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung. The Munich paper was unable to say if the probe was still under way.

Khodorkovsky was suspected of having placed between 15 million and 20 million euros ($20 million to $28 million) in a German bank account in his name and those of close associates, court sources told the newspaper.

Investigators came across Khodorkovsky’s name on a CD-ROM containing client data of Swiss private bank Julius Baer, which they obtained after a raid of the bank’s offices in Frankfurt, southern Germany.

A Russian court jailed the fallen oil tycoon in 2005 for the theft of Russian oil and money laundering in a trial his supporters insist was part of a political campaign against him.

Last month, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Yukos had not received a fair trial but cleared the Russian government of having mounted a politically motivated campaign against the company.