Saturday, July 03, 2004
Yahoo! News - Russian Raid on YUKOS Could Stop Its Oil Output: "Up to 40 plainclothes police entered the steel and glass office block in south central Moscow in the early afternoon and Interior Ministry special forces in gray fatigues and black berets stood guard and cordoned off the building.
"The investigative actions are being undertaken as part of a criminal case into fraud and tax evasion by entities controlled by YUKOS," a spokeswoman for the general prosecutor's office told Reuters.
Although it pumps more oil than Libya, YUKOS is in crisis: its founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky is on trial for fraud and tax evasion, it faces tax bills of almost $7 billion -- half to be paid within days -- and a court has frozen its bank accounts.
YUKOS has until Wednesday night to pay a $3.4 billion tax demand for 2000 and it faces an almost identical bill for 2001."
"The investigative actions are being undertaken as part of a criminal case into fraud and tax evasion by entities controlled by YUKOS," a spokeswoman for the general prosecutor's office told Reuters.
Although it pumps more oil than Libya, YUKOS is in crisis: its founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky is on trial for fraud and tax evasion, it faces tax bills of almost $7 billion -- half to be paid within days -- and a court has frozen its bank accounts.
YUKOS has until Wednesday night to pay a $3.4 billion tax demand for 2000 and it faces an almost identical bill for 2001."
