Associated Press
08.24.2004

The Yukos oil company's appeal of its crushing 2000 back-taxes bill was put off until next month, the Interfax news agency reported Tuesday.

The Moscow arbitration court delayed the appeal hearing until Sept. 7, satisfying a request from the Tax Ministry for the postponement. The Tax Ministry said it wasn't ready for the hearing as it was occupied with other matters, Interfax reported.

The $3.4 billion tax bill has already been upheld by local courts and is being enforced by bailiffs, who have frozen Yukos bank accounts and seized shares in Yukos subsidiaries.

Yuganskneftegaz, the western Siberian production unit that accounts for 60 percent of Yukos' output, is being evaluated for possible sale as collateral for the tax claims, which are expected to rise up to $10 billion to cover the period 2000-2003.

Yukos officials said Monday that they will have paid half the 2000 claim by the end of this month. But with other bills looming and a freeze on its accounts, the company has repeatedly raised the possibility of bankruptcy or production stoppages.

The web of legal actions against Yukos and its jailed former CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky are widely seen as Kremlin-approved punishment for the oil mogul's growing political activity in opposition to President Vladimir Putin's government.

Meanwhile, the trial of Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev on charges including fraud and tax evasion continued Tuesday. If convicted, the billionaire businessmen could face 10 years in prison.

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