On 2 July 2003 Platon Lebedev was arrested in the Vishnevsky military hospital

Lebedev was arrested on suspicion of the theft of the 20% stake in the shares of the Apatit plc fertiliser conglomerate that were held by the State. The value of this holding in the Murmansk company was assessed at 238.14 million dollars. The basis for opening a criminal investigation and arresting the head of Group Menatep was an inspection by the Prosecutor General's office. The prosecutors had begun their own investigation at the request of Vladimir Yudin, deputy chairman of the Duma committee on economic policy and business activities.

Receiving the order to detain Platon Lebedev, the investigators were not in the slightest embarrassed that he was then confined to a hospital bed. The arrest took place at the Vishnevsky military hospital to which Lebedev had been transferred, suffering from circulatory problems. After he had a preliminary diagnosis by the doctor, officers of the Prosecutor General's office and the Federal Security Service (FSB) appeared on the ward and turned an ordinary medical examination into an interrogation.

On 3 July 2003 Lebedev was formally accused of offences under three Articles of the Criminal Code: “theft by swindle on a large scale”, “inflicting damage to property by deception or abuse of trust” and “failure to implement a court decision”. In response the court sanctioned his arrest.