Russian oil billionaire Evtushenkov offers $7.9 million bail

MOSCOW (Bloomberg) -- Russian oil and telecommunications billionaire Vladimir Evtushenkov, who is under house arrest on charges of money laundering, offered to post bail of 300 million rubles ($7.9 million), Judge Yuri Pasyunin said.

Moscow City Court deferred the hearing until tomorrow, Sept. 25, to allow Evtushenkov to read the investigators’ arguments against his appeal of the house arrest, Pasyunin said today in Moscow.

Evtushenkov was charged with money laundering on Sept. 16 in connection with an investigation into OAO Bashneft, an oil producer controlled by his AFK Sistema. Evtushenkov, who denies the charges, is the richest Russian to face criminal charges since Yukos Oil Co. founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky more than a decade ago.

Sistema shares were little changed in Moscow as of 4:45 p.m. after rising as much as 4.6% to 24.05 rubles before the postponement was announced. Bashneft’s ordinary stock pared gains of as much as 6.8% and traded at 1,405 rubles, up 3.9%.

Vladimir Kozin, a lawyer for Evtushenkov, said he “hopes” for a positive verdict tomorrow. He declined to comment on the amount of bail being offered. The defense team will seek to have the trial closed to the public, Kozin said.

The prosecution supports a closed trial, Investigator Alexey Veselyev said in Moscow today. Sistema offices were searched for documents during the investigation, Veselyev said.