yukos
a deep slumber. yukos led its revival’ (western top manager, yukos, 2004). the
the illegal expropriation of yukos is now the subject of numerous legal proceedings around the world. for more information, see yukos - related cases and the yukos library .
mike lake, a spokesman for yukos' s lawyers, said that yukos remained confident the jurisdiction of the chapter 11 case was proper .
he said it would be wrong to pay the yukos plaintiffs compensation out of the russian state budget, because yukos had failed to pay russian taxes .
the yukos shareholders have been trying to recover damages from russia in various courts around the world, claiming that moscow expropriated yukos’s assets for political reasons .
we are seeking proposals for articles on various aspects of the yukos energy charter treaty award and the yukos echr judgment for a joint ogel and tdm special .
the “yukos saga” started in 2003 when the russian tax authorities accused yukos of large scale tax evasion. the ensuing dispute resulted in the imprisonment of yukos owner mikhail khodorkovsky, yukos' bankruptcy and the transfer of yukos' assets to state - owned companies such as rosneft and gazprom. the former shareholders of yukos considered that they did not receive appropriate compensation for the expropriation of their investments and commenced uncitral arbitration proceedings in the hague under the ect in february 2005 .
and now prosecutors have frozen the block of yukos shares controlled by mr khodorkovsky .
yukos has struggled to survive after a series of tax demands totalling $ 27bn .
moscow raid begins action to seize assets of yukos oil (washingtonpost. com )
yukos is in danger of collapsing under the weight of a massive tax claim .
yukos shareholders are also pursuing the russian state for compensation through the dutch courts .
thus, the court denied the yukos entities' request for a preliminary injunction .
ness to external environment; and yukos’ collapse. table 2 contains a data display
where transfer of know - how was important. this helped yukos to monitor and
sufﬁcient condition of your success’ (russian senior manager, yukos, 2004) .
change of action and structure over time. the multiple actors in the yukos case
explain the rise and fall of yukos. the case study represents interesting empiri -
not translate into success in another (return to state control). yukos’ failure
gml executive director tim osborne said :
the majority shareholders of yukos oil were left without compensation for the loss of their investment when russia illegally expropriated yukos .
the dispute between yukos and russia started with moscow’s pursuit of yukos and its chief executive, mikhail khodorkovsky for alleged tax evasion. following the dissolution of yukos by russian authorities in 2003 and the arrest of mikhail khodorkovsky, yukos’s majority shareholders – hulley enterprises, yukos universal and veteran petroleum – commenced arbitration against russia. the claimants alleged that russia had breached its obligations under the ect through a series of actions which eventually saw the transfer of yukos’s assets to state - owned energy giants, rosneft and gazprom .
mikhail b. khodorkovsky, yukos’s former chairman, who served 10 years in prison .
really at fault at yukos. they are seen as victims of a game, a
the above ﬁndings illustrate the rise and fall of yukos. this section, supported by
than allowing yukos to be shaped by it. there appears to have been a clash
as rosneft took control of yukos' s assets, shareholders sought compensation for yukos' s dismantling. khodorkovsky is not party to the legal fight, though his former partners are .
article details ,
standard oil and yukos in the context of early ...
1995: bank menatep was in charge of processing loans - for - shares for yukos .
yukos' shares tumbled 8. 4% to 44. 99 roubles by midday trading .
consequently and necessarily, rebgun was not entitled to represent yukos finance in the netherlands. such power is derived from the recognition of the legal effects of yukos' s bankruptcy in the netherlands. as a result, the shareholders' resolutions adopted by rebgun on behalf of yukos to sell the shares in yukos finance and dismiss godfrey and misamore were null and void .
relevant to the yukos case if the award is re - instated on that appeal. upon
yukos shareholders again received no benefit from the auctions throughout 2006 and 2007 as all yukos liabilities were manufactured to match almost exactly the fire sale prices of all yukos assets, leaving no balance to be distributed to the shareholders. american investors in particular lost nearly $ 7 billion .
russian mega - company yukos oil was forced into bankruptcy in 2006. most of yukos' assets were sold to another russian company, but two companies, yukos b. v. and yukos cis, were not. a court - appointed receiver was trying to sell these two other companies, but they were tied up in various litigation, and in fighting off creditors .
the amsterdam court of appeal ruled in favor of yukos finance bv, a dutch subsidiary of yukos oil. it dismissed claims brought by promneftstroy, a russian company that argued it owned the dutch company after purchasing it through a bankruptcy proceeding, according to the yukos foundation’s ...
update august 2015: the joint tdm / ogel yukos special has been published, you find the table of contents here: tdm 5 (2015) - yukos special and ogel 5 (2015) yukos special (you can download a free excerpt via these links as well) .
tim osborne, director of gml, the holding company created by the yukos founder mikhail b. khodorkovsky, spoke after an arbitration court ordered russia to pay shareholders of yukos $ 50 billion .
the sale led to a legal challenge from yukos when rosneft floated on the london stock exchange .
to all intents and purposes the yukos story is over ,
he told the bbc .
in 1995, khodorkovsky acquired yukos at a state auction at the knockdown price of $ 350m .
russia was told to pay the money to former shareholders in the now defunct oil producer yukos .
investigative committee claims yukos privatization in 1995 was illegal | russian legal information agency (rapsi) .
mammoth arbitrations: the yukos awards of 18 july 2014 by s. nappert on ogel and tdm
ario for the business. yukos, and the russian oil industry more generally, was in a
amsterdam, may 9 – the amsterdam court of appeal today ruled that the russian federation unlawfully bankrupted yukos oil company. the court concluded that the russian authorities “not only violated the russian (tax) rules, but also that this was done with the apparent intent to make yukos insolvent and ultimately bankrupt yukos. ” the russian bankruptcy cannot be recognized in the netherlands, the court ruled, as that would “violate public order. ” the dutch yukos foundation that was set up to protect yukos foreign assets is now one step closer to distributing additional assets to the former shareholders of yukos oil .
president putin himself congratulated yukos on its 10th birthday in 2003. he was quoted as saying: “competently employing modern scientific and technical achievements, yukos is confidently moving on a trajectory of stable growth. ”
in november 2007 yukos’s liquidation was complete and the company was removed from the russian register of enterprises .
an executive at yukos confirmed the substance of the offer but said the government had not yet responded .
facts and circumstances that took place after yukos' s bankruptcy also indicate that the tax authorities' breaches were aimed at bringing about yukos' s insolvency. almost all important assets ended up with russian state - owned companies, which were given the opportunity to pay yukos' s tax debt in arrears .
place (granovetter, 1985; north, 1990). in this case, yukos outpaced the progress
the may 9 court ruling says that the liquidator appointed to sell off yukos assets in 2007 did not have the right to sell the shares of yukos finance bv, a dutch subsidiary of the oil firm .
the amsterdam court of appeal’s decision is in favor of one of the subsidiaries of yukos oil, the dutch company yukos finance bv, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. russian company promneftstroy argued it owned yukos finance, which the court ruled it bought in a rigged bankruptcy auction. promneftstroy’s claims were all dismissed .
before his arrest he was reckoned to be russia' s richest man, managing the oil giant yukos .
the hague court said russian officials had manipulated the legal system to bankrupt yukos, and jail its boss .
– this process could take up to five years. clearly, the yukos saga is far from over .
the majority shareholders in the former yukos oil company representation of the majority shareholders in the former yukos oil company in proceedings initiated by the russian federation before the dutch courts to set aside the us $ 50 billion awards rendered in the arbitrations brought by the shareholders against the russian federation concerning the expropriation of their investments in yukos. we also advise the yukos majority shareholders in proceedings for the enforcement of these awards in multiple jurisdictions .
dr. billington on nov. 5 announced a gift of $ 1 million from the yukos oil company in support of two significant efforts at the library focusing on russia. dr. billington and mikhail khodorkovsky, yukos chairman and ceo, met today at the library to discuss the programs that yukos' s gift will assist .
in afternoon trading, yukos shares were 12% higher, clawing back almost all of thursday' s losses .
yukos, russia' s biggest oil company, has been in trouble with the russian government for some time .
as the results of the ruling were made public, yukos shareholders also expressed their overall satisfaction with the outcome .
creditors of the russian oil company yukos have voted overwhelmingly to ask a bankruptcy court to liquidate the beleaguered firm .
last week, steven theede quit as yukos boss after denouncing the creditors' meeting as a
sham
.
khodorkovsky and lebedev are accused of embezzling the entire crude oil production of yukos over a six - year period .
# kremlin welcomes the # yukos decision made by the court system whose jurisdiction # russia does not recognize. urltoken
without an official response to the latest yukos proposal, fears are building that russia' s president, vladimir v. putin, is determined either to break up yukos or regain government control of a large part of it .
yukos still has fields producing 450, 000 barrels of oil a day, and employs 70, 000 workers .
yukos universal limited (isle of man) v. the russian federation (pca case no. aa 227 )
in april 2004, yukos was given just two days to pay the reassessed outstanding tax for 2000. however, the tax authorities did not even bother to wait: they froze all company assets, making it impossible for yukos to pay even if simultaneously challenging the legitimacy of the reassessment (for more information, see the yukos library) .
finding that russian authorities had subjected yukos to politically - motivated attacks, the panel made an award to a group of former yukos shareholders that equates to more than half the entire fund moscow has set aside to cover budget holes .
the european court of human rights (echr) in strasbourg is expected to announce a separate decision on thursday on yukos’s multi - billion - dollar claim against russia, ruling on “just satisfaction” or compensation, a yukos spokeswoman said .
yukos, which was once russia’s largest oil company, was bankrupted in 2006 after russian authorities imposed back tax claims and fines of $ 24 billion in what was widely seen as a politically motivated assault on then - yukos ceo mikhail khodorkovsky. former yukos assets today form the bulk of state - controlled rosneft, the world’s biggest public oil producer .
russian tax authorities and state - owned oil giant rosneft are among creditors chasing yukos for $ 17bn (£9bn) .
mr khodorkovsky built yukos into russia' s largest investor - owned oil company after the fall of the soviet union .
it discusses in detail the events that led to the arrest of khodorkovsky and many other key executives of yukos in 2003. finally, the case examines the future prospects of yukos in the light of the above crisis. a country report on russia and an industry note on the russian oil industry are available to facilitate better understanding of the yukos story .
the russian investigative committee says it is close to proving the privatization of the now defunct yukos energy company was illegal .
the original 45% stake in yukos now represents only 0. 1% of the company after various share issues .
russia must pay the compensation to subsidiaries of gibraltar - based group menatep, a company through which khodorkovsky controlled yukos. group menatep now exists as the holding company gml, and khodorkovsky is no longer a shareholder in gml or yukos .
‘ [ yukos are ] a third the cost of exxon for example, their operating costs are $ 1. 50
those lodestars risk being sorely tested by the latest twist in the disputes between the former shareholders of yukos and russia .
the yukos foundation was formed in 2005 to ensure that the assets of the yukos group outside russia can be protected and distributed fairly to the company’s former creditors and shareholders as soon as litigation regarding the entitlement to such assets is favorably resolved. the foundation is identifying and verifying yukos shareholders in order to return financial assets to them when legal challenges are completed .
according to court filings, rosneft filed suit in armenia in the late 2000s seeking possession of one of yukos' s far - flung subsidiaries, yukos cis, which was located there. in 2011, rosneft won possession of the subsidiary .
the battle over yukos took another political turn on friday when prime minister mikhail kasyanov said he was
deeply concerned
.
there was another day of volatile trading in yukos shares on friday, while the wider stock market and the rouble steadied .
state - owned rosneft became russia' s no. 1 oil company after it acquired yukos' assets following its breakup .
a yukos oil employee works under a picture of mikhail khodorkovsky, the company' s imprisoned chief shareholder. the russian government says yukos owes $ 7 billion in back taxes, an amount that could increase. (viktor korotayev - - reuters )
the guilty verdict was the first against a former yukos official, a number of whom are currently on trial in russia .
the charges of tax evasion are more recent, but yukos' s accounts had been signed off by government tax inspectors .
the claim was filed by a subsidiary for the financial holding company gml, once the biggest shareholder in yukos oil co .
accounts of the rise and fall of yukos typically begin with the collateral auction of december 1995, and the subsequent sale of these shares together with an investment tender a year later, which gave khodorkovskiy’s menatep group control of over 85% of yukos’s shares. 1 however, this focus on khodorkovskiy mistakenly ignores the significance of the preceding years when yukos was founded and corporatized. during this time, the key roles were played by former members of the nomenklatura, whose ability to shape the development of yukos was a result of institutional legacies and incentives, as well as of personal choices and preferences. in contrast, khodorkovskiy played a key role in the actual privatization of yukos in 1995 and was also central to the yukos affair of 2003–2004 .
yukos, established by mikhail khodorkovsky and at the time russia' s largest oil company, was declared bankrupt on august 1 2006 by the moscow city arbitrazh court. rebgun was appointed as yukos' s bankruptcy trustee. important yukos assets, such as a refinery in lithuania and a pipeline operation in slovakia, were held by a 100% dutch subsidiary, yukos finance bv. rebgun, in its role as representative of yukos finance' s 100% shareholder, yukos, dismissed yukos finance directors david godfrey and bruce misamore and appointed new directors. on september 10 2007 rebgun sold the shares in yukos finance in an auction to russian investment company promneftstroy for $ 307 million. godfrey and misamore sued rebgun before the amsterdam district court, with the main purpose of obtaining declaratory decisions that all resolutions adopted by or on behalf of rebgun and the new directors were null and void. in the annulment proceedings, godfrey and misamore created landmark case law in advancing two sets of defences relating to :
meanwhile, yukos was selling some of its prime oil - producing assets to obscure entities offshore. yukos seemed in danger of becoming a shell company. not surprisingly, daiwa and west merchant folded their hands. khodorkovsky and his partners bought back most of the stake themselves. the share offerings were canceled and whatever assets had been moved offshore were returned to yukos in russia .
the financial times reported today authorities were considering launching a $ 3 billion tax demand against yukos' s main subsidiary yugansk in addition to a $ 3. 4 billion claim against yukos itself for 2000 and another $ 3. 4 billion for 2001 .
yukos was created as a joint stock company in 1993 and privatized in 1995, with operations across the oil and gas sector; yuganskneftegaz (yng) was its main production subsidiary. in 2002, yukos was russia’s largest company in the sector and listed as one of the world’s top ten oil and gas companies by market capitalization. the claimants complained that, starting in july 2003, russia took a series of measures leading to yukos being declared bankrupt in august 2006. yukos was eventually struck off the registry of companies in november 2007 and its assets nationalized. russian state - owned companies gazprom and rosneft acquired yukos’ remaining assets .
yukos’s back tax bill ended up exceeding $ 30 billion for 2000 to 2004. according to an analysis by the parliamentary assembly of the council of europe published in january 2005, “the total tax burden for yukos, including the retroactive reassessments, is indeed about triple that of its russian competitors” and “the total tax burden for 2002 exceeds [ yukos’s ] turnover for that year. ”
the court said in its ruling that russia had violated international laws under the energy charter treaty, leading to yukos going bankrupt .
it is hard to say whether or not yukos has fully repaired its relations with foreign banks; it has no credit rating .
former yukos ceo mikhail khodorkovsky was believed to have been the richest man in russia at the time of his arrest in 2003 .
the tax ministry justified additional taxes and fines by inventing entirely new legal concepts, which were applied only to yukos, and misapplying russian tax law, notably by retroactively assigning profits made by yukos’s trading subsidiaries to the parent company at a higher tax rate .
creditors for the troubled oil company yukos have begun proceedings which could see russia' s former no 1 oil producer declared bankrupt .
yukos was sold off to state - owned companies, including rosneft, now one of the world' s largest energy companies .
also, yukos put $ 7 million in two houston bank accounts to cover legal fees and mr. misamore' s costs .
russia strikes back - but the yukos saga is far from over. here we give the london, geneva, and paris perspectives
last month, the russian government appealed a hague arbitration court decision ordering moscow to pay ex - yukos shareholders $ 50 billion. it said the shares belonging to yukos’ former owners were investments made through front companies registered in other countries in violation of russian law .
among the measures alleged to have breached the ect are the criminal prosecution of the company and its management. mikhail khodorkovsky (ceo of yukos and supporter of russian opposition parties), platon lebedev (director of the claimants hulley enterprises and yukos universal) and vasily shakohvsky (president of yukos - moscow) were charged and convicted of crimes including embezzlement, fraud, forgery and tax evasion. to escape similar charges, other executives fled russia, such as leonid nevzlin (deputy chairman of the yukos board of directors) .
while the court ruling is a blow to the former yukos shareholders, it is unlikely to end the dispute that began when the russian authorities arrested yukos’s chairman, mikhail b. khodorkovsky, in 2003 and sold off his company over the next several years. former yukos assets are an important component of rosneft, the state - controlled entity that is now the world’s largest publicly traded oil producer .
assessments and the seizure and sale of yukos’ assets, which ultimately led its bankruptcy. yukos’ shareholders, arguing that the actions of the russian state constituted an unlawful expropriation of their investments and relying on the energy charter treaty (ect), initiated arbitration proceedings against russia in october 2005. the arbitral tribunal eventually awarded yukos’ shareholders a staggering us $ 50 + billion in damages in july 2014 .
“the foundation was set up to protect the assets of the yukos group outside russia for the purpose of ultimately distributing the monies to creditors and former shareholders of yukos, who were harmed by the unlawful expropriation. the ruling shows that yukos’ management’s strategy to seek the protection of independent courts, outside of russia, pays off, ” said eelco meerdink, who represented yukos in the proceedings. while promnefstroy may appeal the court’s decision to the supreme court, meerdink said “the foundation is confident that this judgment will be upheld. ”
according to stuart eizenstat, ex - us deputy treasury secretary and member of the international advisory board (iab) to the company that controls yukos, the board members are preparing to use their influence in washington, london and berlin to push for support for yukos .
rosneft said monday in a statement that it does not bear any responsibility in the court dispute between yukos shareholders and russia, before going on to say that its receipt of yukos' assets was fully justified and in strict accordance with the laws applicable at the time .
though he wasn' t involved this case, he was at the centre of the events that led to the downfall of yukos .
due to the freezing order on yukos’s assets, the company defaulted on repayment of loans of $ 1. 6 billion and $ 1 billion from a consortium led by société générale. rosneft, in a confidential agreement with the consortium, agreed to purchase yukos’s debts in exchange for the consortium instigating bankruptcy proceedings, which it did in march 2006. the russian government became the main creditor of yukos .
khodorkovsky ceded his controlling interest in menatep, which owned 60 to 70 percent of yukos, to nevzlin, after he was jailed. “i am very pleased the international tribunal in the hague decided that russia violated international laws and illegally nationalized yukos, ” said nevzlin .
rosneft bought the bulk of yukos assets through auctions after the company was declared bankrupt. its shares were down 2. 6 percent .
moscow raids pwc over yukos back tax “russian investigators raided the moscow office of pwc on friday, stepping up pressure on the “big four” audit firm ahead of a crucial court case over allegations that it signed off on false accounts by yukos, the bankrupt oil company .
in january 2015, yukos’ shareholders applied to the english high court for the recognition of the awards. russia responded by challenging the english
the recent hague judgment in the yukos case should accordingly have no direct consequence in france for the enforcement proceedings that have been commenced .
itar - tass. (2014, aug. 12). russia might appeal hague’s arbitration court resolution on yukos. retrieved from urltoken
“yukos was the object of a series of politically motivated attacks by the russian authorities that eventually led to its destruction, ” the court said. “the primary objective of the russian federation was not to collect taxes but rather to bankrupt yukos and appropriate its valuable assets. ”
group menatep limited (gml) was established in 1997 by khodorkovsky, the former ceo of yukos, to serve as majority shareholder of yukos through subsidiaries, including two of the claimants, hulley enterprises and yukos universal. nevzlin, former deputy chairman of the yukos board of directors, is currently a beneficiary of 70% in gml. satisfied with the award, he expressed hopes that russia would honour it, as well as gml’s readiness to search for and freeze russia’s assets around the world (alpert, 2014; cave, 2014) .
earlier this year, the svea court of appeal had already granted russia negative declaratory relief in another yukos arbitration brought by other former yukos shareholders under the spain russia bilateral investment treaty (gan reported here) and decided that the tribunal in this case had no jurisdiction, either. now, the setting - aside decision by the hague district court of 20 april 2016 forms the latest chapter in the yukos saga .
“yukos was the object of a series of politically motivated attacks by the russian authorities that eventually led to its destruction, ” the court ruling said. “the primary objective of the russian federation was not to collect taxes but rather to bankrupt yukos and appropriate its valuable assets. ”
the russian authorities treated yukos in its attempts to remedy its earlier fraudulent value added tax constructions differently to other russian companies in similar cases .
russia strikes back - but the yukos saga is far from over. here we give the london, geneva, and paris perspectives - lexology
clarity as to when state assets may be the subject of enforcement, but the test favours the state. doubtless this is why yukos’ shareholders
rfe / rl. (2014, july 28). interview: expert says yukos ruling could take years to enforce. retrieved from urltoken
yukos consistently paid its tax obligations in full, and even though it benefitted from lawful tax optimisation methods, the company was the largest private taxpayer in russia (read more). from 1995 to 2004, yukos audits had been approved by pricewaterhousecoopers (pwc) (by 2007, after intense coercion and threats from the russian authorities, pwc withdrew their stamp of approval from yukos’s audits – see financial times and wall street journal and this q & a. in july 2003 even the russian tax ministry had approved yukos’s good standing, with only minor adjustments. nevertheless, in december 2003, the tax ministry launched the first of what would become a series of extraordinary audits of yukos’s tax payments .
in 2015, feldman signed an agreement with one of the hopeful purchasers of these yukos companies, including a russian company known as ooo promenfstroy. the purchasers agreed to pay for feldman' s legal defense against the two yukos companies and the two stichtings (i' ll refer to these collectively as
the yukos entities
for bevity), in exchange for feldman providing them with information relating to their activities. in other words, feldman was being paid by the purchasers to give them the real scoop about these yukos companies, including their hidden assets .
the russian tax authorities, in their auction of yukos' s production facility (its main source of income), did not, in good faith, strive for the highest possible proceeds to pay off yukos' s outstanding tax debt. the main reasons for this conclusion were :
following the appointment of a bankruptcy receiver, a creditors’ meeting was called for june 2006. at the meeting a restructuring plan was presented by yukos that would have allowed the company to settle its liabilities and continue operating in light of rising oil prices. the plan was rejected, as the russian authorities once again demonstrated that they were not interested in settling with yukos. in august 2006, a russian court declared yukos insolvent .
analysts say the move against mr khodorkovsky and yukos has created the biggest political and economic crisis of president putin' s three years in office .
the former security chief of russian oil giant yukos, alexei pichugin, has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for murder and attempted murder .
yukos has been under remorseless pressure from the russian authorities since mr khodorkovsky was arrested in 2003, a campaign which many believe is politically motivated .
he said the yukos case has taken on overt political tones, both internationally and domestically, far beyond how arbitration disputes typically are sorted out .
[ … ] talking about yukos and pricewaterhousecoopers’ russian member firm. but i could also be talking about satyam and pricewaterhousecoopers’ indian member [ … ]
mr. khodorkovsky owns 4 percent of yukos directly and 22 percent through a trust of which he is the sole beneficiary, according to russian analysts .
rosneft said on monday that it “was not a party to and did not participate in the arbitrations and is not bound by the published rulings. rosneft believes that all of its purchases of former yukos assets and all other actions taken by it with respect to yukos were entirely lawful and proper. ”
one russia - based analyst said yukos was in a
downward spiral
which was likely to result in the eventual sale of its remaining assets .
it had come close to folding but now yukos became russia' s second biggest oil company, pumping one in every five barrels the country produced .
president putin has said the state doesn' t want to bankrupt yukos (file photo) 1 july 2004 - - russia' s tax ministry is claiming another $ 3. 4 billion from the oil giant yukos in back taxes, in addition to an existing tax bill for the same amount .
the panel of judges, which has been reviewing the case since 2005, concluded that officials under putin had manipulated the legal system to bankrupt yukos .
yukos first brought the case to court in december, in an attempt to stop the russian government from auctioning off its key production asset, yuganskneftegas .
“…as reported in major features published in today’s wall street journal and the financial times following separate investigations conducted by both newspapers, pwc appears to have succumbed to a woefully illegal war of intimidation waged against them by russian authorities who sought to cast doubt on the reliability of the yukos audits. pwc was subject to police raids, partners were threatened with imprisonment for their work on yukos, and legal proceedings unrelated to yukos were lodged by prosecutors against the firm. these problems all disappeared after pwc withdrew its yukos reporting. a persistent threat echoed by authorities as pwc adamantly defended its yukos reporting – that the firm’s russian license could be revoked – has not been raised again since pwc backed down, and yukos - related investigations into pwc appear to have ceased. the allegedly “new” information received by pwc was not only supplied by the prosecution, but also never independently verified before pwc withdrew their audits. ”
prosecutors in the trial of former yukos chief executive mikhail khodorkovsky called on tuesday for the tycoon to be sentenced to 10 years for fraud and tax evasion .
he was accused of organising the murder of the gorins in 2002 on the orders of leonid nevzlin, a shareholder in yukos and friend of mr khodorkovsky .
# russia' s # yukos case at # echr: council of europe member states today express ‘serious concern at the non - implementation of judgment' .
a source close to the investigation told tass that a preliminary probe into the main yukos case which was opened in march 2003 has been extended until june .
yukos v. russian federation: observations on the tribunal' s ruling on damages by by b. sabahi and d. ziyaeva on ogel and on tdm
in seeking to enforce their uncitral arbitration award against the russian state, the yukos shareholders would in the first instance look to enforce directly against russian assets .
deputy minister storchak said the award runs against the decision of the ecthr, which “concluded twice that yukos committed large - scale tax evasion and its management was aware of violations, that all extra tax payments required from yukos were lawful and legitimate and that yukos was not discriminated against and the actions by the russian authorities were not politically motivated. ” the statement of the finance ministry complained of many other flaws in the arbitration, including biased investigations and use of evidence, inadmissible reviews of russian court judgments, and a “senseless and completely speculative attempt to give a hypothetical appraisal” of yukos (itar - tass, 2014a) .
according to the courts, the russian government inflicted undue harm on those shareholders through punitive tax claims and asset seizures in the aftermath of the 2003 arrest of yukos founder mikhail khodorkovsky, previously russia’s richest man. yukos’s assets were distributed to front companies and later acquired by rosneft, which became the largest oil company in russia, and other state - owned and regime - friendly entities such as gazprom. this wiped out the holdings of yukos’s shareholders, and they sued .
every armenian judge in charge of proceedings having to do with' yukos' has received a clear and unambiguous signal: either you follow directions from above and hand down judgments in favor of' rosneft' and against' yukos,' or you face serious consequences ,
he said in his written testimony .
foreign advisers to the crisis - hit russian oil giant yukos are planning to lobby western governments on the firm' s behalf, bbc news online has learned .
the shares were in fact owned by two menatep - owned companies in cyprus and the isle of man, a fact which yukos says makes the seizure illegal .
mr. rothschild now controls the voting rights on a stake in yukos worth almost $ 13. 5 billion, the newspaper said in a dispatch from moscow .
“the yukos foundation applauds the ruling in this case, which has exposed the extent to which the russian federation will go to manipulate the legal process and ignore the rule of law in order to accomplish their aims, ” said steve theede, former yukos ceo, and now a member of the foundation’s board of directors .
'' the government is showing that this is not about taxes; it' s about trying to change the ownership of yukos,'' said the executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.'' if they agree to what yukos has offered, they' ll get all the taxes.''
houston, dec. 28 - deutsche bank sought on tuesday to have a federal judge dismiss the bankruptcy protection filing in houston by the russian oil giant yukos .
what' s tax got to do with it? the yukos tribunal' s approach to motive and treaty interpretation by r. teitelbaum on ogel and on tdm
tsarova, m. (2014, aug. 15). yukos winning award: will russia avoid arbitral enforcement again? cis arbitration forum. retrieved from urltoken
there were signs that the russian government was preparing to break apart the oil giant and sell it off at bargain - basement prices, analysts said - - a move that would jeopardize not only the billionaire oligarchs now controlling yukos but also thousands of private investors who hold up to $ 2. 5 billion of yukos stock .
interestingly, in a previous case, yukos capital v ojsc rosneft oil co involving a different yukos entity, both english and dutch courts recognised an arbitral award in circumstances where russian courts (courts at the seat of arbitration) had annulled the arbitral award that yukos capital was seeking to enforce. it was held that russian courts’ annulment of the arbitral award was the result of a “ partial and dependent judicial system “. such an allegation is unlikely to be levelled at the hague court .
yukos chief executive mikhail khodorkovsky is in jail facing fraud and tax evasion charges, and almost half the company' s shares were frozen by russian authorities on thursday .
having learned in advance about the ruling via the media, foreign minister sergei lavrov said that moscow would appeal if it was confirmed that the yukos shareholders had triumphed .
yukos has pledged to fight to recover its lost assets, which it claims have been illegally expropriated, by taking its case to the european court of human rights .
mikhail khodorkovsky, once russia' s richest man as head of oil giant yukos, spent 10 years in custody for tax evasion and theft after funding opposition parties .
the ruling is littered with testimony from witnesses pointing to mr putin' s anger about mr khodorkovsky, particularly when the former yukos chief raised the issue of corruption .
. @ wikileaks no, # wikileaks publications have already been accepted as evidence in many court cases, ie # elmasri, # yukos. so # germany can too
once russia’s largest oil company, yukos was systematically pared down in the early 2000s through a series of bankruptcy proceedings that legal experts have said were rife with inconsistencies .
in july 2014, an arbitration court in the hague ordered russia to pay $ 50 billion to compensate yukos shareholders, one of the largest such awards in history .
markin said the former yukos head mikhail khodorkovsky had de facto stolen the company’s shares from the country and is now trying to gain another $ 50 billion through deceit .
the interfax news agency said that the offer was the same one made to the government by yukos' s chief executive, steven m. theede, on thursday .
critics of russian president vladimir putin say the attack on yukos, including a $ 27. 5bn (£14. 4bn) backdated tax bill, is politically motivated .
majority shareholders in the former yukos oil company v. russian federation (uncitral cases) securing a us $ 50 billion award in favor of our clients, the largest award ever rendered by an arbitral tribunal. the dispute related to the expropriation of our clients’ investment in yukos oil company. claims brought under the energy charter treaty .
there’s quite a bit of bad news coming out of russia about pricewaterhousecoopers and their client yukos. former yukos chief mikhail khodorkovsky and his business partner platon lebedev stand co - accused in a new trial brought by prosecutors intent on preventing their scheduled release from prison in 2011. khodorkovsky and lebedev have decided to target pwc in their defense .
menatep selected its international advisory board (iab) earlier this year as part of a structure designed to make yukos a poster - child for good corporate governance in russia .
in 2004, the back tax bill led to yukos' main yuganskneftegaz subsidiary being expropriated by the government and sold off at auction - to be ultimately acquired by rosneft .
the council of europe - a major international human rights watchdog - has condemned russia' s refusal to pay compensation to shareholders in the now - defunct yukos oil giant .
according to the investigation, the privatization of yukos in 1995 violated competition and antimonopoly legislation ,
the official spokesman of the committee vladimir markin told tass on friday .
in a separate development this week, yukos' s chief executive officer, steven theede, is reported to be struggling for control of the firm against his own management .
meyer, h. , and bierman, s. (2014, july 31). yukos hunting rosneft assets from venezuela to vietnam. bloomberg news. retrieved from urltoken
the yukos case started more than a decade ago and has further to go in terms of the hague court proceedings and enforcement proceedings in multiple jurisdictions. what lies ahead is hard to predict especially given wider political issues involving russia. however, yukos is turning into a case for the arbitral community to test its limits and set new precedents .
according to mr eizenstat, the iab discussed the situation on the phone on wednesday and members expressed
grave concern
about what was happening both to yukos and to russia .
the two have known each other for years “through their mutual love of the arts” and their positions as directors of the open russia foundation, yukos’ philanthropic branch, it said .
the $ 350 million that khodorkovsky and his partners paid for control of 78% of yukos was quite the bargain. it implied a value for the whole company of $ 450 million. when the shares began trading less than two years later, yukos' market capitalization was $ 9 billion. today the market cap is closer to $ 15 billion .
alex temerko: # ukraine born former # yukos oil exec wanted for fraud by # russia, now # uk citizen & major funder of # cameron' s party. naturally
. @ cyber _ president completely untrue. # wikileaks has been used in numerous court cases, # elmasri, # yukos (against # russian govt & they won! )
“certainly the decision of the dutch court will impact on the ability of yukos shareholders to enforce the arbitration award in various countries around the world, ’’ mr. sullivan said .
sim lc. (2008) case study of yukos. in: the rise and fall of privatization in the russian oil industry. st antony’s series. palgrave macmillan, london
yukos operations in moscow have reportedly refused to accept the authority of mr theede, who has run the business from self - imposed exile in london for more than a year .
from 1998 to 2000 he worked in oao nk yukos, from 2001 to 2004 he grew to the position of managing director in the jscb
trust and investment bank
.
the russian equity market faces the grim prospect of the entire equity value of yukos being destroyed by the state ,
ufg financial group said in a grim commentary thursday .
although prevented by dutch law from continuing their enforcement actions in the netherlands, yukos’ shareholders will continue their attempts to enforce the awards in other jurisdictions, irrespective of this decision .
buckley, n. , and hille, k. (2014, july 28). retrieved yukos shareholders face battle to claim $ 50bn. financial times. retrieved from urltoken
no one should be under any illusions: corruption was a problem before yukos was destroyed. some even speculate that khodorkovsky was targeted because he was too vocal in highlighting corruption in state - owned companies. it has become much clearer since the beginning of the yukos affair that corruption in russia is now so endemic that it is simply a fact of life .
in three awards dated 18 july 2014, each totalling over 600 pages, an uncitral arbitral tribunal under the auspices of the permanent court of arbitration (pca) ordered russia to pay over us $ 50 billion in compensation for the indirect expropriation of oao yukos oil company (yukos). this is the largest damages award yet known in investment treaty arbitration .
in july 2014, a pca tribunal consisting of yves fortier qc, charles poncet and stephen schwebel ordered russia to pay damages in excess of us $ 50billion to the former yukos majority shareholders. the tribunal held that russia had launched “ a full assault on yukos and its beneficial owners in order to bankrupt yukos and appropriate its assets while, at the same time, removing mr. khodorkovsky from the political arena “. the award was 20 times bigger than any previous arbitral award and equivalent to 20 per cent of russia’s annual budget .
yukos is quickly becoming a toxic waste stock that many portfolio managers would not want to own not only for portfolio performance, but also for career reasons ,
said aton .
yukos founder mikhail khodorkovsky, who was released last december after spending 10 years in prison said he was pleased with the ruling but added that he would not benefit from the decision .
despite having little industry knowledge, mr. khodorkovsky helped revive the company by bringing in western techniques like water injection and fracking. production at yukos almost doubled between 1995 and 2003 .
yukos is currently in danger of being torn apart by bailiffs who have said they might sell off its main operating arm to settle a $ 3. 4bn bill for back taxes .
at stake is yukos' s decision to arrange its affairs to benefit from low local tax rates introduced as part of the government' s efforts to bring developments to the regions .
yukos oil company chief executive officer mikhail khodorkovsky (r) stands behind a glass wall at a courtroom in moscow, on december 29, 2010. (photo by alexander nemenov )
but some analysts worry that the government' s claims against yukos, the country' s largest oil exporter, could continue to rise, possibly as high as $ 10 billion .
pwc said in its decision to pull the audits was “influenced by the fact that some former shareholders and management of yukos are continuing to encourage others to rely on pwc’s audit reports” .
third, while yukos was subjected to processes of law, the tribunal did not find that the expropriation was “carried out under due process of law, ” in view of the harsh treatment accorded to the executives and counsel of yukos. the tribunal went so far as to state that the russian courts, in sentencing khodorkovsky and lebedev, “bent to the will of russian executive authorities to bankrupt yukos, assign its assets to a state - controlled company, and incarcerate a man who gave signs of becoming a political competitor” (para. 1583) .
the government may find it hard to untangle yukos' s complicated ownership structure to seize assets. as a holding company, yukos does not own many physical assets, according to executives, but it controls subsidiaries that own the refineries and pumping installations. coming up with an inventory and figuring out which assets to take over could take weeks or months, analysts said .
daniel feldman was a former director of two yukos companies, and the secretary of two related
stichtings
which are essentially foreign foundations (often purporting to be charities) that are sometimes used for asset protection purposes. feldman was terminated from all these companies in 2013 and 2014. feldman attempted to negotiate a settlement with these yukos companies and stichtings, but failed.
ojsc " yukos oil company " ( russian : оао нефтяна́я компа́ния ю́кос , ipa : [ ˈjukəs ] ) was an oil and gas company based in moscow , russia . yukos was acquired from the russian government by russian oligarch mikhail khodorkovsky 's bank menatep during the controversial " loans for shares " auctions of the mid 1990s . between 1996 and 2003 yukos became one of the biggest and most successful russian companies , producing 20 % of russia 's oil output , as much as libya or iraq , and khodorkovsky became an advocate of democratization , international co-operation and russian reform . in october 2003 khodorkovsky — by then the richest man in russia and 16th richest man in the world — was arrested , and the company was forcibly broken up for alleged unpaid taxes shortly after and declared bankrupt in august 2006 . courts in several countries later ruled that the real intent was to destroy yukos and obtain its assets for the government , and act politically against khodorkovsky . in 2014 the largest arbitration award in history , $ 50 billion ( € 37,2 billion ) , was won by yukos ' former owners against russia . from 2003-04 onwards , the russian government presented yukos with a series of tax claims totaling us$ 27 billion ( € 20,1 billion ) . as the government froze yukos ' assets at the same time , and alternative attempts to settle by yukos were refused , the company was unable to pay these tax demands . between 2004 and 2007 , most of yukos 's assets were seized and transferred for a fraction of their value to state-owned oil companies . the parliamentary assembly of the council of europe condemned russia 's campaign against yukos and its owners as manufactured for political reasons and a violation of human rights . between 2011 and 2014 several court cases were won by the former company 's management and investors against russia or against the companies that acquired yukos assets . the european court of human rights ruled that there had been unfair use of the legal and tax system ; the arbitration institute of the stockholm chamber of commerce , an established neutral body used by russia and the west since the 1970s for trade disputes , concluded that the government 's action was an " unlawful expropriation " using " illegitimate " tax bills , whose effect was intended to " destroy yukos and gain control over its assets " . and the permanent court of arbitration in the hague ruled unanimously upon awarding compensation of $ 50 billion for the company 's assets , that yukos was the target of a series of politically motivated attacks by russian authorities that eventually led to its destruction , and that russia had expropriated yukos ' assets in breach of the energy charter treaty . ( the treaty does not stop governments seizing or nationalizing commercial assets , but requires the investors to be fairly compensated if this happens . russia never ratified the full treaty but these clauses were still legally binding under both the treaty and russian law until 2029 . according to the permanent court of arbitration 's ruling , the primary objective of the russian federation was not to collect taxes but rather to bankrupt yukos , appropriate its assets for the sole benefit of the russian state and state-owned companies rosneft and gazprom , and remove khodorkovsky from the political arena . however this $ 50 billion award by the permanent court of arbitration has been thrown out by the local court in the hague ( dutch justice system ) as being invalid .
ojsc " yukos oil company " (russian: оао нефтяна́я компа́ния ю́кос, ipa: [ ˈjukəs ]) was an oil and gas company based in moscow, russia. yukos was acquired from the russian government by russian oligarch mikhail khodorkovsky's bank menatep during the controversial " loans for shares " auctions of the mid 1990s. between 1996 and 2003 yukos became one of the biggest and most successful russian companies, producing 20% of russia's oil output, as much as libya or iraq, and khodorkovsky became an advocate of democratization, international co-operation and russian reform. in october 2003 khodorkovsky — by then the richest man in russia and 16th richest man in the world — was arrested, and the company was forcibly broken up for alleged unpaid taxes shortly after and declared bankrupt in august 2006. courts in several countries later ruled that the real intent was to destroy yukos and obtain its assets for the government, and act politically against khodorkovsky. in 2014 the largest arbitration award in history, $ 50 billion (€ 37,2 billion), was won by yukos' former owners against russia. from 2003-04 onwards, the russian government presented yukos with a series of tax claims totaling us$ 27 billion (€ 20,1 billion). as the government froze yukos' assets at the same time, and alternative attempts to settle by yukos were refused, the company was unable to pay these tax demands. between 2004 and 2007, most of yukos's assets were seized and transferred for a fraction of their value to state-owned oil companies. the parliamentary assembly of the council of europe condemned russia's campaign against yukos and its owners as manufactured for political reasons and a violation of human rights. between 2011 and 2014 several court cases were won by the former company's management and investors against russia or against the companies that acquired yukos assets. the european court of human rights ruled that there had been unfair use of the legal and tax system; the arbitration institute of the stockholm chamber of commerce, an established neutral body used by russia and the west since the 1970s for trade disputes, concluded that the government's action was an " unlawful expropriation " using " illegitimate " tax bills, whose effect was intended to " destroy yukos and gain control over its assets ". and the permanent court of arbitration in the hague ruled unanimously upon awarding compensation of $ 50 billion for the company's assets, that yukos was the target of a series of politically motivated attacks by russian authorities that eventually led to its destruction, and that russia had expropriated yukos' assets in breach of the energy charter treaty. ( the treaty does not stop governments seizing or nationalizing commercial assets, but requires the investors to be fairly compensated if this happens. russia never ratified the full treaty but these clauses were still legally binding under both the treaty and russian law until 2029. according to the permanent court of arbitration's ruling, the primary objective of the russian federation was not to collect taxes but rather to bankrupt yukos, appropriate its assets for the sole benefit of the russian state and state-owned companies rosneft and gazprom, and remove khodorkovsky from the political arena. however this $ 50 billion award by the permanent court of arbitration has been thrown out by the local court in the hague (dutch justice system) as being invalid.
ojsc " yukos oil company " (russian: оао нефтяна́я компа́ния ю́кос, ipa: [ ˈjukəs ]) was an oil and gas company based in moscow, russia. yukos was acquired from the russian government by russian oligarch mikhail khodorkovsky's bank menatep during the controversial " loans for shares " auctions of the mid 1990s. between 1996 and 2003 yukos became one of the biggest and most successful russian companies, producing 20% of russia's oil output, as much as libya or iraq, and khodorkovsky became an advocate of democratization, international co-operation and russian reform. in october 2003 khodorkovsky — by then the richest man in russia and 16th richest man in the world — was arrested, and the company was forcibly broken up for alleged unpaid taxes shortly after and declared bankrupt in august 2006. courts in several countries later ruled that the real intent was to destroy yukos and obtain its assets for the government, and act politically against khodorkovsky. in 2014 the largest arbitration award in history, $ 50 billion (€ 37,2 billion), was won by yukos' former owners against russia. from 2003-04 onwards, the russian government presented yukos with a series of tax claims totaling us$ 27 billion (€ 20,1 billion). as the government froze yukos' assets at the same time, and alternative attempts to settle by yukos were refused, the company was unable to pay these tax demands. between 2004 and 2007, most of yukos's assets were seized and transferred for a fraction of their value to state-owned oil companies. the parliamentary assembly of the council of europe condemned russia's campaign against yukos and its owners as manufactured for political reasons and a violation of human rights. between 2011 and 2014 several court cases were won by the former company's management and investors against russia or against the companies that acquired yukos assets. the european court of human rights ruled that there had been unfair use of the legal and tax system; the arbitration institute of the stockholm chamber of commerce, an established neutral body used by russia and the west since the 1970s for trade disputes, concluded that the government's action was an " unlawful expropriation " using " illegitimate " tax bills, whose effect was intended to " destroy yukos and gain control over its assets ". and the permanent court of arbitration in the hague ruled unanimously upon awarding compensation of $ 50 billion for the company's assets, that yukos was the target of a series of politically motivated attacks by russian authorities that eventually led to its destruction, and that russia had expropriated yukos' assets in breach of the energy charter treaty. ( the treaty does not stop governments seizing or nationalizing commercial assets, but requires the investors to be fairly compensated if this happens. russia never ratified the full treaty but these clauses were still legally binding under both the treaty and russian law until 2029. according to the permanent court of arbitration's ruling, the primary objective of the russian federation was not to collect taxes but rather to bankrupt yukos, appropriate its assets for the sole benefit of the russian state and state-owned companies rosneft and gazprom, and remove khodorkovsky from the political arena. however this $ 50 billion award by the permanent court of arbitration has been thrown out by the local court in the hague (dutch justice system) as being invalid.