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www.nytimes.com/2004/06/19/business/...5006&partner=ALTAVISTA1
....Shares of Yukos fell 1.7 percent on Friday, after surging on Thursday as Mr. Putin's remarks seemed to offer hope of a resolution of the company's legal and financial problems.
But the rulings by the arbitration court reflected a growing realization that the dual outcomes of the court cases against Yukos and Mr. Khodorkovsky remain far from clear.
Speaking on the periphery of a regional conference in Uzbekistan on Thursday, Mr. Putin promised that his government would do its best to avoid a Yukos collapse, which could have significant consequences for the country's economy and oil production. At the same time, the president insisted that the legal questions facing Yukos would be left to the legal system.
"As to how the process will go in the courts is a separate story," he said. "It is up to the courts when they come to consider the case in substance."
...The tax ministry has since won a series of court decisions upholding its assertion that Yukos underpaid $3.4 billion in taxes in 2000 by using tax shelters and other accounting maneuvers. The company could still face tax claims from other years. Yukos has denied the charges, saying it simply exploited legal provisions to minimize its taxes.
"I think our position is 100 percent solid because the ministry's arguments have no basis," a Yukos lawyer, Sergei G. Pepelyaev, said during a break in Friday's hearings. Asked if be believed that Mr. Putin's remarks would affect the court's decision, he shrugged and laughed.
"You can see that so far it is not helping," he said.
Even if the tax ministry's payment demand is approved, it cannot begin to enforce the order until last month's ruling prohibiting it from confiscating assets from Yukos is lifted. The ministry will ask for that stop order to be lifted at a hearing scheduled for next Wednesday - the same day Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev are due to make a second joint court appearance in their criminal trial.
The tax ministry accuses Yukos of having used onshore tax havens to minimize its tax liability in 2000. Yukos has countered that any tax schemes it used were legal at the time and widely used by other Russian oil companies.
Some analysts, however, say they expect that at least part of Yukos could end up in government hands or within a state-run energy company like Gazprom. After Mr. Putin's comments Thursday that a Yukos bankruptcy should be avoided, the Kommersant business daily ran the headline: "The president has ordered Yukos to be taken alive."
With this possibility on the horizon, a group led by Prosperity Capital Management, the VR Capital Group and Capital International has set up a committee of minority shareholders to safeguard their interests in what could be a protracted restructuring.
....Shares of Yukos fell 1.7 percent on Friday, after surging on Thursday as Mr. Putin's remarks seemed to offer hope of a resolution of the company's legal and financial problems.
But the rulings by the arbitration court reflected a growing realization that the dual outcomes of the court cases against Yukos and Mr. Khodorkovsky remain far from clear.
Speaking on the periphery of a regional conference in Uzbekistan on Thursday, Mr. Putin promised that his government would do its best to avoid a Yukos collapse, which could have significant consequences for the country's economy and oil production. At the same time, the president insisted that the legal questions facing Yukos would be left to the legal system.
"As to how the process will go in the courts is a separate story," he said. "It is up to the courts when they come to consider the case in substance."
...The tax ministry has since won a series of court decisions upholding its assertion that Yukos underpaid $3.4 billion in taxes in 2000 by using tax shelters and other accounting maneuvers. The company could still face tax claims from other years. Yukos has denied the charges, saying it simply exploited legal provisions to minimize its taxes.
"I think our position is 100 percent solid because the ministry's arguments have no basis," a Yukos lawyer, Sergei G. Pepelyaev, said during a break in Friday's hearings. Asked if be believed that Mr. Putin's remarks would affect the court's decision, he shrugged and laughed.
"You can see that so far it is not helping," he said.
Even if the tax ministry's payment demand is approved, it cannot begin to enforce the order until last month's ruling prohibiting it from confiscating assets from Yukos is lifted. The ministry will ask for that stop order to be lifted at a hearing scheduled for next Wednesday - the same day Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev are due to make a second joint court appearance in their criminal trial.
The tax ministry accuses Yukos of having used onshore tax havens to minimize its tax liability in 2000. Yukos has countered that any tax schemes it used were legal at the time and widely used by other Russian oil companies.
Some analysts, however, say they expect that at least part of Yukos could end up in government hands or within a state-run energy company like Gazprom. After Mr. Putin's comments Thursday that a Yukos bankruptcy should be avoided, the Kommersant business daily ran the headline: "The president has ordered Yukos to be taken alive."
With this possibility on the horizon, a group led by Prosperity Capital Management, the VR Capital Group and Capital International has set up a committee of minority shareholders to safeguard their interests in what could be a protracted restructuring.
