Yukos, once Russia's largest independent oil producer, which was declared bankrupt in August 2006 following three years of litigation with the tax authorities, will now have to pay a total of 13.08 billion rubles ($503 million) to Tomskneft, still in its possession.
But the latest sum can only be repaid after Yukos has returned outstanding debts to its list of creditors, which was finalized by now.
Yukos, whose founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky is serving an eight-year prison term in Siberia after being convicted of fraud in May 2005, faces a total of more than 700 billion rubles (about $27 billion) in claims from creditors, including the Federal Tax Service, state-controlled Rosneft [RTS: ROSN], and its subsidiary Samaraneftegaz.
Tomskeft, Samaraneftegaz and Yukos's former subsidiary Yuganskneftegaz are at the center of fresh charges against Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Levedev, which the businessmen allegedly documented as "oil-well liquid," reselling oil to end consumers for triple the price via bogus companies.
Prosecutors claim the scheme helped them launder a total of $24.5 billion.
Khodorkovsky has insisted his prosecution was part of a campaign to bring mineral assets under Kremlin control.
