Yukos, once Russia's biggest oil company, was declared bankrupt on August 1 after three-years of litigation with tax authorities over the company's tax arrears.
Kommersant cited Yukos Chairman Viktor Gerashchenko as saying that prosecutors, who refused to comment on the situation, had been looking for documents related to the activity of the company's Luxemburg-based subsidiary Yukos Capital SARL, which is at the focus of a probe launched last week.
An investigation was opened August 8 into alleged fraud during Yukos bankruptcy procedures. The Prosecutor General's Office said Yukos had secured a loan worth over $4.5 billion from Yukos Capital SARL, the company's major creditor, through affiliated legal entities. It said ex-Yukos officials had masterminded a scheme to sell crude oil through trading companies Fargoil and Ratibor under their control, acting both as fictitious owners and buyers.
But Gerashchenko told the paper that the prosecutors had confiscated documents which had nothing to do with Yukos Capital.
"Everything that the prosecutors are basing their charges on happened long before the current board of directors was elected," he said.
He told Kommersant that the prosecutors, who searched his office for the first time, could have been seeking to warn him against further criticism of the authorities. Gerashchenko has repeatedly slammed the government for sparing no effort to declare Yukos bankrupt, whereas he has said the company had an opportunity to pay off its debts avoiding the sell-off.
Eduard Rebgun, formerly the Yukos temporary manager whom the court appointed as the bankruptcy receiver, said he agreed with investigators that Yukos Capital had offered Yukos its own assets. Yukos Capital wanted to participate in the first creditors' meeting and made claims to Yukos during external administration of the company, but the court rejected the motion.
According to the paper, Yukos Capital should be placed on the list of creditors under Russian law, which could seriously affect the alignment of forces among creditors because Yukos affiliates would secure some 35% of votes against the current 5.63% and, consequently, could influence the bankruptcy process. However, if criminal proceedings were initiated, Yukos Capital could be excluded from the list of claimants to Yukos assets.
The Yukos group, whose founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky is serving an eight-year prison sentence after being convicted for fraud in May 2005, now faces a total of $16.6 bln in claims from creditors, including Rosneft-owned former production unit Yuganskneftegaz ($4.07 bln), the Federal Tax Service ($11.6 bln), Rosneft ($482 mln) and more than 20 other companies.
