Moscow- New charges have been brought against the jailed former head of the Yukos oil company, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a spokesman for the Russian prosecutor general's office said Tuesday.

The former government opponent is charged with stealing nearly 350 million tons of oil together with former business partner Platon Lebedev, the news agency Interfax quoted the spokesman as saying.

The one-time oil magnate's lawyer said the charges were first raised by prosecutors last year.

Prosecutors accuse Khodorkovsky of siphoning off the profits from several years of oil production by using tax havens and subsidiary companies.

Together with Lebedev, he is also accused of money-laundering to the tune of more than 18 million euros (28.2 million dollars).

In February 2007, the two were accused of selling up to 19 billion dollars worth of oil on the black market.

Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are serving eight-year prison sentences imposed in 2005 for fraud and tax evasion.

The Kremlin is believed to have had a hand in the trial of the two oil magnates and the break-up of Yukos, especially as the company's main production operation Juganskneftegas was taken over by the state-owned company Rosneft. (dpa)