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Court leaves ex-Yukos unit's damages claim without consideration-1

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MOSCOW, September 12 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow Arbitration Court Tuesday dropped a $8.5 bln claim for damages from an ex-Yukos unit, sold at a December 2004 auction to help pay the parent company's massive tax bills.

Yuganskneftegaz, now owned by the largely state-owned Rosneft Oil Company, lodged the suit in March 2005, claiming more than 304 billion rubles ($11.4 bln) in damages, including 163 bln rubles ($6.1 bln) for losses sustained as a result of Yukos's lower transfer pricing schemes in oil deals in 1999-2003. Later, a court increased the amount to 226 bln rubles ($8.46 bln).

Yugansk was seeking the remainder of the sum, 141 bln rubles ($5.28 bln), to compensate for losses arising from the settlement of tax arrears.

Eduard Rebgun, the Yukos bankruptcy receiver, said all tax claims should be considered as part of the bankruptcy case, as Yukos, once Russia's biggest oil company, was declared bankrupt on August 1 after three years of litigation with tax authorities.

The group now faces a total of $18.2 bln in claims from creditors, including Yugansk ($4.07 bln), the Federal Tax Service ($13.1 bln), Rosneft ($482 mln) and more than 20 other companies.

An inquiry was opened August 8 into alleged fraud during Yukos bankruptcy proceedings. The Prosecutor General's Office said Yukos secured a loan worth over $4.5 bln from Yukos Capital SARL, a Luxembourg-based subsidiary and a major creditor, through affiliated legal entities.

It said ex-Yukos officials masterminded a scheme to sell crude oil through the trading companies Fargoil and Ratibor, both under their control, acting both as fictitious owners and buyers.

Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky is serving an eight-year prison sentence after being convicted for fraud in May 2005.

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