17 June 2004 00:53
Yukos hit as caged pair go on trial
SHARES in oil giant Yukos hit a two-year low as two former bosses went on trial locked in a metal cage in a Moscow
court. Yukos has warned that a GBP2bn tax claim could push it into bankruptcy.
The Moscow stock market fell 2pc on fears that president Vladimir Putin is bent on destroying Yukos, which has been
banned from selling assets to pay the tax.
At one point its shares slumped 20pc in two days.
They rallied, but are still down two-thirds since April.
The tax case will be heard on Friday. Stockbrokers say the confrontation could cause a big sell-off of Russian
stocks.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky - rated Russia's richest man - and Platon Lebedev are accused of fraud in buying 20pc of
fertiliser group Apatit, privatised in 1994.
[Daily Mail] |
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