Lawyers acting for Yukos, once Russia's largest oil company, had appealed against the August 1 ruling of the Moscow Arbitration Court, which came after three years of litigation with tax authorities over the company's tax arrears. Eduard Rebgun, formerly the Yukos temporary manager, was appointed the bankruptcy receiver.
Yukos, whose founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky is serving an eight-year prison term after being convicted for fraud in May 2005, faces a total of $16.6 billion in claims from creditors, including Rosneft-owned former production unit Yuganskneftegaz ($4.07 bln), the Federal Tax Service ($11.6 bln), Rosneft itself ($482 mln) and more than 20 other companies.
An investigation was opened August 8 into alleged fraud during Yukos bankruptcy procedures. The Prosecutor General's Office said the oil company 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 two trading companies under their control, Fargoil and Ratibor, acting both as fictitious owners and buyers.
On August 23, a court upheld a decision by a meeting of Yukos Oil Company creditors to declare the company bankrupt, rejecting an appeal lodged by Yukos August 17.
