Court freezes Yukos accounts

Bailiffs yesterday gave Yukos, the embattled Russian oil group, five days to pay a Rbs99bn ($3.4bn) tax bill for 2000 and froze its bank accounts, in moves that sharply increase the risk of bankruptcy.
Court officials accompanied by armed guards went to the Yukos headquarters in Moscow, moving swiftly to implement a commercial court judgment upholding a tax ministry demand brought against the company as part of a campaign widely seen as politically motivated.
Yukos also confirmed last night
that it had been told by the tax ministry of a further Rbs98bn extra tax assessment for 2001. That places extra stress on the company, which will probably be forced into significant asset sales to pay the combined bill and remain afloat.
Commenting on the freezing of the bank accounts, Alexander Shadrin, Yukos spokesman, said: "This is a real threat to the company," adding that he believed the move towards bankruptcy was "certain".
Yukos earlier said it had proposed to the bailiffs the sale of a 35 per cent stake it holds in Sibneft, the oil group with which it merged
last year, as the most obvious and liquid asset to divest without jeopardising its continuing operations. It said it had received no reaction to the idea. The market value of that stake is currently about $4.7bn.
The company, which has about $lbn in cash and assets estimated at more than $30bn, is currently banned from selling any of its operating assets to raise additional funds as a result of a court order linked to the tax ministry's action.
Under Russian insolvency legislation, the court could approve a tender for the sale of the stake in Sibneft or other assets over a three-month period.
Yukos has proposed a structured sale of assets and shares from its majority shareholder under government approval to cover the current and future potential tax levies but said it has so far received no significant response from the authorities.
The company's shares fell on the news of yesterday's raid, and dipped further - closing in Moscow at least 12 per cent down - after Russian media reports that the tax ministry had prepared a Rbs98bn claim for 2001, which would almost double the demands on the com-
pany. Analysts estimate total claims over four years could reach $10bn.
Yesterday's actions came exactly one year after the arrest of Platon Lebedev, one of the two most powerful shareholders in Yukos, signalling the start of the company's troubles. He was this week moved into an ordinary pre-trial detention cell with 20 other inmates, despite ill health.
He is currently on trial with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Yukos' former chief executive, for fraud and tax evasion.