Yukos to drop U.S. Bankruptcy appeal
Posted: 28 March 2005
Company Will Continue To Pursue All Legal Means In Appropriate Forums To Stop Expropriation Of Assets By Russian Authorities
YUKOS Oil Company said that it will no longer pursue its bankruptcy case in the U.S. Courts and will be dismissing its appeal. Last Friday the Houston District Court denied YUKOS’ motion for a stay pending its appeal of the Bankruptcy Court's order dismissing YUKOS’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. Now that YUKOS is no longer able to obtain a stay from the United States Courts, and no longer has a reasonable prospect of obtaining relief under the U.S. Bankruptcy law, YUKOS will pursue its case in other forums.
"We appreciate the stay that the United States Court system has provided to YUKOS through Judge Clark’s temporary restraining order and otherwise,” said Steven Theede, Chief Executive Officer of YUKOS Oil Company. “This contributed significantly to YUKOS’ efforts to survive as a going concern. YUKOS appreciates the fairness with which it was treated by the United States Courts.”
YUKOS achieved a great deal during its U.S. Bankruptcy Case to preserve the value of its estate. The Bankruptcy Court, in its December 16, 2004 Temporary Restraining Order, found that the tax assessments, which were the basis for the purported tax auction sale of Yuganskneftegaz in late December 2004, were “not conducted in accordance with Russian law.” The Bankruptcy Court's TRO caused the Russian Government to admit more openly that it was expropriating YUKOS' assets, by using a 100% Russian Government-owned company to buy Yuganskneftegas and by making public statements at the end of 2004.
After the late-December 2004 auction sale, the Russian Government's efforts to expropriate assets from YUKOS subsided somewhat until YUKOS' bankruptcy case was dismissed on February 24, 2005 . After the dismissal, the Russian authorities resumed their campaign of threats, intimidation, arrests and seizures with renewed vigor.
The U.S. Courts' decisions, which were influenced by comity toward the Russian Government, left no doubt that they understood that a wrong was being done in Russia . In its February 24, 2005 order dismissing Yukos’ bankruptcy case, the Bankruptcy Court found that the Russian government had acted in a manner that “would be considered confiscatory under United States law.” More recently, the District Court when denying YUKOS' last effort to obtain a stay from the U.S. Courts, made clear that it did not “endorse” what was going on in Russia .
YUKOS also said today that recent decisions by the U.S. Courts in Houston do not deter the Company from continuing its fight to preserve the value of its estate and protect its shareholders, creditors and employees by resisting expropriation of its assets and pursuing causes of action to recover the value of assets that are expropriated from it. YUKOS management believes they have a responsibility to pursue all legal options available in all appropriate forums to prevent the destruction of the Company at the hands of the Russian government.
“The management team continues to believe strongly in the merits of our legal case and we have no choice but to aggressively pursue all the legal options available to us to right the wrongs that have been done,” said Mr. Theede. “We will now focus our efforts elsewhere to survive as a going concern and obtain compensation for assets that have been improperly expropriated from us.”
Posted by Editor Pipeline Magazine
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