A Russian court on Tuesday turned down two crucial appeals by the country's largest oil producer, Yukos. One was an attempt to stop the government from collecting a US$3.4 billion tax bill and the other a request to let Yukos sell shares in a rival company to help pay the claim.
In its first ruling, the court, the Moscow City Court of Arbitration, rejected a request to suspend collection of the 2000 tax debt -- at least until appeals against the seizure of the company's core subsidiaries had been heard, according to the Interfax news agency.
The court then threw out a request that Yukos be allowed to pay part of its tax bill using shares of Sibneft. Yukos tried and failed to merge with Sibneft. Sibneft called off the deal after the Yukos chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was arrested in October. Yukos still owns 20 percent of Sibneft.
Yukos is thought to be among the targets of a Kremlin-inspired campaign to wrest power from Russia's oligarchs.
The company's founder and controlling shareholder, Khodorkovsky, is on trial for tax evasion and fraud charges.
His trial resumes today, and prosecutors said on Tuesday that they would begin introducing witnesses.
In the last few weeks, Yukos executives have frequently warned that with corporate bank accounts frozen and a stop order in place on selling assets, bankruptcy and production cuts could be just around the corner.
The authorities, meanwhile, have been looking at Yukos' tax records for years other than 2000, and analysts say the company's tax bill could balloon to US$10 billion.
Yukos supplies a fifth of all of Russia's oil, but concerns about it being cut off from the world market eased somewhat on Tuesday, after Russia's government-owned railroad said that it would export Yukos oil even if the company could not pay the freight itself.
The media office of Russian Railways told Interfax that even if Yukos was unable to pay for rail freight, the agency could bill the traders who sell the oil.
The standoff against Yukos and the Kremlin remains tense.
If Yukos does file for bankruptcy, its core shareholders, including Group Menatep, Khodorkovsky's investment holding company, would be at the front of the creditors' line.
According to one estimate, Group Menatep at the end of the second quarter held about US$10 billion of the liabilities of the parent company, NK Yukos, up from US$7 billion at the end of the first quarter.
The United Financial Group, a brokerage firm partly owned by Deutsche Bank, said in a note to clients that creditors other than Menatep were owed relatively little.
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday decided to shelve proposed legislation that would give elected officials full control over their stipends, saying it would wait for a consensus to be reached before acting. KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) last week proposed amendments to the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法) and the Regulations on Allowances for Elected Representatives and Subsidies for Village Chiefs (地方民意代表費用支給及村里長事務補助費補助條例), which would give legislators and councilors the freedom to use their allowances without providing invoices for reimbursement. The proposal immediately drew criticism, amid reports that several legislators face possible charges of embezzling fees intended to pay
REQUIREMENTS: The US defense secretary must submit a Taiwan security assistance road map and an appraisal of Washington’s ability to respond to Indo-Pacific conflict The US Congress has released a new draft of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes up to US$1 billion in funding for Taiwan-related security cooperation next year. The version published on Sunday by US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson removed earlier language that would have invited Taiwan to participate in the US-led Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC). A statement on Johnson’s Web page said the NDAA “enhances U.S. defense initiatives in the Indo-Pacific to bolster Taiwan’s defense and support Indo-Pacific allies.” The bill would require the US secretary of defense to “enable fielding of uncrewed and anti-uncrewed systems capabilities”
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
RSS