Tokens: In
our
opinion
,
a
contract
can
be
valid
under
civil
law
and
still
be
a
means
by
which
a
criminal
act
is
committed
.
It
is
the
context
of
the
transaction
that
matters
.
In
the
case
of
the
applicants
,
as
was
found
by
the
domestic
courts
,
the
contracts
in
question
were
used
to
drain
oil
at
a
low
price
(
about
half
of
the
market
price
)
from
the
Yukos
production
entities
to
the
Yukos
trade
companies
,
the
latter
being
located
offshore
and
controlled
by
the
applicants
.
The
oil
was
subsequently
sold
at
the
real
market
price
to
end
-
customers
.
The
minority
shareholders
in
the
Yukos
companies
were
not
aware
of
the
overall
structure
of
the
activities
.
The
full
picture
,
including
the
“
sham
”
character
of
the
agreements
held
to
be
valid
by
the
commercial
courts
,
became
clear
only
later
.
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