MOSCOW (AFP) - Yukos` main shareholder said it had filed a complaint to block the sale of the oil company`s key production unit to settle tax claims, a move it said would amount to expropriation.
Menatep Executive Director Tim Osborne told the Interfax news agency that the company had filed complaints under the Energy Charter following the announcement of the sale of Yuganskneftegas, saying its auctioning would amount to expropriation of Yukos` key asset.
Menatep owns 60 percent of shares in Yukos.
Russian authorities said Friday that Yuganskneftegas, which accounts for 60 percent of Yukos production, will be auctioned on December 19 to help settle a total tax debt of 24 billion dollars (18.4 billion euros), an amount five times Yukos` current market capitalization.
Yukos officials have charged the tax case against the company is political in nature, the tax bill has been inflated, and the sale of assets necessary only because its accounts have been frozen.
Observers have speculated that the government aims to dismember Yukos and hand its choice assets to a state-linked firm to punish the political ambitions of its founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a billionaire who has himself been jailed pending a fraud trial.
Yukos managers have complained the sale of Yuganskneftegas is illegal as under Russian tax law non-core assets should be sold first to settle tax bills.
The Energy Charter signed in 1991 protects foreign investments into countries of the former communist bloc, allowing investors to seek compensation from expropriation of their assets.
11/20/2004 - 21:01 GMT - AFP