MOSCOW, May 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Former Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is awaiting his verdict on fraud and tax evasion charges, will face new charges of money laundering, the Prosecutor General's Office said Friday.

Former Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky (File photo)

    "The prosecution is planning to bring new charges of money laundering against both Mikhail Khodorkovsky and (his business partner) Platon Lebedev soon," Natalia Vishnyakova, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General's Office, was quoted by Itar-Tass as saying.

    The charges involved money that totaled billions of rubles, Vishnyakova added.

    The prosecutor's office planned to bring the charges to court as part of a criminal case against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev openedlast December, Vishnyakova said.

    Khodorkovsky has already been charged with large-scale fraud and tax evasion and is awaiting his verdict, set be delivered Monday, behind the bars. He has been detained for more than a yearand could face a sentence of up to 10 years in jail, as demanded by the prosecution. Khodorkovsky pleaded innocent to all charges against him.

    The new charges against Khodorkovsky came the same day Yukos, which has been all but crushed by a legal onslaught of back taxes,was ordered by a Moscow court to pay 62.4 billion rubles (2.2 billion US dollars) to Yuganskneftegaz, a former Yukos subsidiary,for past oil bills.

    In a lawsuit filed with the Moscow Arbitration Court, Yuganskneftegaz claimed Yukos had not paid for oil that Yuganskneftegaz shipped to it in July-December 2004 as part of an agreement between the two companies.

    "We believe this court ruling is illegal and will certainly appeal it," Yukos Press Secretary Alexander Shadrin was quoted by Interfax as saying.

    Yuganskneftegaz, which accounted for more than 60 percent of Yukos' oil output, was auctioned off in December against a crippling 28 billion-dollar back-tax bill on Yukos.

    The court also decided to hold a hearing on June 10 on another Yuganskneftegaz claim, which demanded compensation from Yukos for tax claims for 1999-2003 that amounted to 141 billion rubles (5 billion dollars). Enditem