10 June 2004 04:48
Yukos may go bankrupt in 2-3 months
Yukos lawyer Sergei Pepelyaev told Interfax that on May 25 the
court upheld a Tax Ministry claim for 99 billion rubles, with the
MOSCOW. June 10 (Interfax) - The Moscow Arbitration Court on June 18, 2003 is to hear an appeal by the Russian Tax
Ministry to uphold part of its tax claim against Yukos, a source in the court told Interfax.
"This was done so that the ministry could file an expedited claim
for this miniscule amount. We need a month to write our appeal, and
exception of part of the claim amounting to 400,000 rubles.
they needed half an hour," Pepelyaev said.
"The Tax Ministry received the court ruling on June 1 and by June 2 had already filed its appeal," he
said.
"The court set the court hearing of the appeal for June 18, although Yukos has until June 28 to file an
appeal," he said.
The court ruling to uphold the claim against the company comes into force immediately after the hearing of the Tax
Ministry claim, that means that court bailiffs may arrive at Yukos in a few days, Pepelyaev said.
He said that court bailiffs might start looking for these funds, that is - start withdrawing funds from company
accounts and seizing assets for subsequent sale. He also said that the first assets to be sold might be those that were
not part of Yukos when the company was privatized.
"There is no doubt that in this situation commercial creditors will demand the early repayment of credits.
Consequently, the company may go bankrupt in two to three months," he said.
Asked to comment on this information, Yukos Press Secretary Alexander Shadrin said that "according to
management, the company is capable of paying its arrears and there are several options for paying them by the end of the
year."
"However, a necessary condition for repayment is the unfreezing of company accounts, and also the start of
negotiations with the government about conditions for restructuring this debt," Shadrin said.
The Russian Tax Ministry accuses Yukos of avoiding taxes through domestic offshore companies. On April 14 the
ministry completed an audit of Yukos tax payments in 2000, after which the ministry hit the company with a tax claim for
99.375 billion rubles. [RU EUROPE ASIA EEU EMRG ENR CRU OIL CRIM] rd <>
[Interfax] |
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