Lawyers who participated in the hearings said the court probably passed the ruling after receiving information on the liquidation of Yukos.
Yukos was declared bankrupt August 1, 2006 after three years of litigation with tax authorities over arrears and formally ceased to exist in November 2007.
In March 2007, a Moscow court of arbitration upheld the Federal Tax Service's lawsuit to declare the 2002-2004 audits of Yukos invalid and compelled PwC to pay $480,000 to the Russian government.
PwC rejected the tax authorities' claims and filed an appeals complaint against the court ruling.
However, in June 2007 PwC suddenly withdrew its Yukos audits for 1995-2004, saying the information provided by Yukos's former management "may not have been accurate."
