Court upholds USD 3.3 billion tax bill for Yukos

Moscow's Court of Arbitrage ruled Wednesday that oil giant YUKOS owes USD 3.31 billion in taxes from 2000, as alleged by the old Tax and Collections Ministry.

According to the suit, the leadership of the company used a variety of schemes to avoid paying taxes, specifically relying on subordinate companies registered in areas offering special tax benefits.

Sergey Pepelyayev, representing YUKOS, said the decision would be appealed. He expressed confidence that procedural errors allowed by the court would lead to the ruling being overturned. He noted that none of YUKOS' four representatives was allowed to make a presentation to the court.