Nevzlin, the country's 18th most wealthy man, has been accused of ordering the murder of two people and in the attempted murder of three others. He supposedly masterminded the murders with a former head of security at Yukos, Alexei Pichugin. Pichugin, who protests his innocence, has been in jail since June last year and is due to stand trial this year.

Nevzlin, who emigrated to Israel last year, is also wanted in Russia on tax evasion and embezzlement charges.

Meanwhile Yukos could be saved from bankruptcy by a late US$10 billion buy out bid from a consortium of investors with links to Group Menatep.

Group Menatep is led by former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and controls the major interest in Yukos, which is currently frozen as collateral by government authorities.

The new investor group, led by Menatep ally Konstantin Kagalovsky, sent a letter to President Putin detailing the proposal to pay off up to US$10 billion in Yukos tax debts in return for the majority stake.

Yukos is facing collapse if authorities move ahead with plans to sell the company’s main production arm Yuganskneftegaz. Last week it was revealed that the government was willing to knock billions of dollars off the sale price to make the package attractive to companies close to the Kremlin such as Surgutneftegaz, or even state-owned energy utilities Rosneft or Gazprom.

So far Yukos says it has sent 11 proposals to the government on restructuring its tax debts but claims it has received stoney silence in return. Additionally, while awaiting his trial for fraud, Khodorkovsky has twice offered to hand over his stake in Yukos so that management could sell it to pay off the back tax bill.