MOSCOW, June 21 (RIA Novosti) - Oil company Yukos's accounts for 2005 do not reflect the company's real financial standing, according to an auditor's report cited an annual shareholders' meeting Wednesday.
Horwath ICLC, a Russian company and a member of the international audit and consulting group Horwath International, said that its findings indicated that the company's financial statements did not give an adequate picture of its financial situation as of December 31, 2005 and the results of its financial activities in the period from January 1 to December 31, 2005 and could not be recognized as corresponding to Russian requirements for financial statements.
The auditor said the value of Yukos' net assets reported as of December 31, 2005 and December 31, 2005 was below the minimum required for charter capitals, which could serve as grounds for liquidating the company.
As of early 2005, Yukos' net assets amounted to minus 401.455 billion rubles ($14.84bln) and to minus 496.894 billion rubles ($18.37bln) in late 2005.
Yukos' net loss in 2005 stood at 95 billion rubles ($3.51bln). In 2004, the company lost 417.475 billion rubles ($15.44bln).
Once Russia's major independent oil producer, Yukos is currently run by an external administrator as it is facing bankruptcy procedures over massive debts, including multibillion dollar tax arrears and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt to state-owned oil company Rosneft.
Rosneft, which acquired Yukos' core production unit Yuganskneftegaz in December 2004 and secured the right to claim the debt from a syndicate of foreign banks led by Paris-based Societe General SA, also acts as a claimant in the bankruptcy case, hearings on which are to take place June 27.
