YUKOS believes that this appeal cannot be considered as long as a verdict on the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev has not been returned.
These cases are inter-connected, in the opinion of YUKOS lawyers. They point out that Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are charged with dodging the payment of similar sums of taxes which the tax ministry is seeking to recover from YUKOS in the court of arbitration.
In the opinion of the lawyers, first a court of general jurisdiction should pass its sentence which would clarify the intent of the YUKOS leaders (Khodorkovsky and Lebedev) in committing tax offence. It is only after this, according to the oil company's lawyers, that the arbitration case can be considered.
The tax ministry passed a decision on April 14 on levying upon YUKOS additional taxes, penalties and fines to the tune of 99.375 billion roubles. On the next day, the tax ministry applied to the court for recovering this money from the company.
On May 26, 2004, the suit was complied with.
Currently, the Moscow Court of Arbitration is considering the tax ministry's claim upon additional demands concerning this suit. The tax ministry wants to recover from YUKOS extra 400,000 roubles. Irrespective of the court's ruling, the decision of the first instance will come in force on making this ruling public.
A YUKOS source reports that the oil company has supplied its basic shareholders and the government with a plan on settling the tax claims. This plan provides for settling tax issues outside the court premises by restructuring the debt as well as by the sale of YUKOS assets to state-run companies.
Asked by Russian journalists in Tashkent last Thursday, Vladimir Putin said the government should take measures to prevent YUKOS from being ruined.
