The Russian lawyer for the bankrupt oil company “Yukos” has been arrested in Spain on money-laundering charges. Meanwhile, the arrest has not attracted much attention in Spain.
Viktor Cheretsky, a correspondent for the Russian news agency Ria-Novosti who's in Madrid, said there’s not much fuss around the arrest of Gofshtein, though Spanish police are aware that he is a well-known Russian attorney. “The Press Service of Spain’s National Court has released some extracts from Gofshtein’s arrest warrant, which is not a common practice. The warrant says that Gofstein is regarded by the Spanish party as a member of a criminal group, headed by the jailed Zakhar Kalashov. The Spanish regard Kalashov as an influential Georgian criminal leader. Now Gofstein’s lawyers are trying to appeal against the court decision. The usual practice however shows that even under the most favourable conditions for Gofstein there’s no much hope for his release soon. Together with Gofstein three more people have been arrested under the charges of money laundering,” Mr Cheretsky said.