Mikhail Khodorkovsky in a Moscow courtroom. (AFP)

Moscow, May 16 (Reuters): Judges in the trial of Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky said today he had committed tax evasion and other serious offences and his lawyers said they expected a formal guilty verdict within days.

Summing up the case, the judges said Khodorkovsky, founder of the Yukos oil firm, had committed crimes relating to four charges. They have yet to give their views on another three charges. Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, listened from a metal cage in the courtroom.

“Naturally, if they (the judges) have already recognised a crime has been established on these charges then of course the verdict will be guilty ... There are still some charges they have not covered yet,” said defence lawyer, Yuri Shmidt.

The trial, which has scared investors and soured President Vladimir Putin’s image abroad, is widely seen as an attempt by the Kremlin to crush a political rival and send a stark message to other Russian oligarchs to toe the line.

The charges of fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion and theft have their roots in alleged deals going back to the murky days of post-Soviet privatisation in the mid-1990s. Khodorkovsky, 41, says he is innocent and has branded the trial a farce.

The judges, who adjourned the Moscow court session until tomorrow, could take another two days to read their conclusions. Only then will they hand down their formal verdicts on the seven charges.