Russian court recovers Yukos tax debt

More than 75% of the beleaguered Yukos oil company’s 2000 tax debt has been recovered from the company, a Russian Justice Ministry official was quoted as saying today.

Andrei Belyakov, head of the Ministry of Justice’s bailiff department, told the Interfax news agency that bailiffs now had 75bn roubles (€2bn) of Yukos’ 99bn rubles tax bill (€2.76bn).

He did not specify how the money had been recovered, but Yukos officials have repeatedly said that they are trying to pay the bill.

“This is a first for the court bailiffs services,” Belyakov was quoted as saying.

Yukos also faces a similar claim for 2001, and the total claims against it for the period 2000 to 2003 are expected to swell beyond €8.1bn. Bailiffs have ordered its main production unit – Yuganskneftegaz – to be auctioned as collateral.

A value assessment of Yuganskneftegaz is expected soon from investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Citing an unidentified source, the Interfax news agency reported last week that the unit was worth between €12.79bn and €14.1bn, allaying fears of an auction.

Belyakov confirmed bailiffs were still waiting for the bank’s report.

Yukos pumps 20% of all Russian crude, Yuganskneftegaz pumps some 60% of the company’s total.

Yukos and its billionaire former CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky are facing a web of legal actions widely seen as Kremlin punishment for Khodorkovsky’s perceived political ambitions. The government has cast the case as an attack on corruption and tax-dodging.