Yukos stock sharply depreciates in MICEX trading

The trading session of the Moscow Inter-Bank Currency Exchange has opened with a sharp 10% decline of the prices of Yukos shares.

Yesterday the Yukos stocks closed at 202 rubles per share in the MICEX trading. This Friday the price of a Yukos share has dropped to 183 rubles (1 US dollar costs about 29 rubles).

On Thursday the Yukos shares began their landslide decline after the news of new 98 billion ruble tax claims for 2001 set by the Tax Ministry to the company after inspecting its 2001 performance.

The oil giant's shares did not plummet in the Russian Commodity System as the news of new claims came after the trading session's close. The company's stock at the MICEX fell by 11%.

Yukos' ADRs depreciated by 9%.

Meanwhile, Yukos press secretary Alexander Shadrin said that the company had not received any documents from the Tax Ministry on new tax claims.

"In connection with the Tax Ministry's statement about its audit of the company's 2001 operation results, we officially state that we have not received any certificate of the tax inspection for that period," Shadrin said.

Earlier, head of the court's press service Alexander Remigailo told journalists that the Moscow Arbitration Court had issued officials from the Tax Ministry a writ of execution to recover from Yukos 99.342 billion rubles in taxes and penalties additionally assessed by the Tax Ministry for 2000.

"The writ of execution was issued on June 30," he said.

Under the law on execution proceedings, the Tax Ministry can send this writ to credit institutions, in which Yukos holds its accounts.

A bank or a credit institution, which services the debtor's accounts, must within three days from the receipt of the writ of execution comply with the demand on the recovery of sums, article 6 of the law says.

The appellate instance of the Moscow Arbitration Court upheld on June 29 the judgment on recovering from the company over 99 billion rubles in taxes and penalties additionally assessed by the Tax Ministry for 2000.

It was also reported that on Thursday bailiffs offered Yukos to fulfil voluntarily within five days the judgment on the payment of 99.4 billion rubles.