Wednesday 5 August 2015
Russia might be covering their liabilities to the former shareholders of Yukos by selling its properties outside federation - also those in Warsaw
The newspaper RBC
calculated the amount of the liabilities that the Russian state has to pay to
the former shareholders of Yukos, which has been illegally nationalized at the
beginning of 2000s.
In 2013, Russia was ordered to pay a compensation for
the bankruptcy of the company and the sale of its assets in 2004, to the former
shareholders of Yukos.
The amount is essentially compensation for the bankruptcy of the company by
Russian authorities and the sale of its assets in 2004. The panel of judges of
The Hague Tribunal back then ruled that Russia had violated the Energy Charter
Treaty when it de facto expropriated the oil company from its legitimate owners
by putting the oil company Yuganskneftegaz, a key asset of Yukos, under the
control of state oil major Rosneft (based on The Telegraph).
According
to the RBC newspaper, liabilities amount to a total of $ 5 billion. French and
Belgian bailiffs have already started seizing assets of the Russian Federation
in response to the judgment of the Court of Justice in The Hague July 18. The
lawyer representing a group of former shareholders of Yukos, Tim Osborne,
argues that it will be applied to study Russian assets located in 150
countries. That's why the Russians count with the possibility of further
activities funds abroad.
Besides
Russia there are about 973 objects that can be seized. Their value is estimated
at around 4 billion euros.
As
points out Wojciech Jakobik for Onet.pl,
the objects that would be of an interest of eventual sell-off, in the first
place will be the buildings with Russian Federation’s ownership but without
diplomatic status. That means, those would be residential and commercial
buildings, as well as constructions of a religious importance. Russia has quite
a few buildings on this type in Warsaw.
Under
the agreements signed between Poland and Russian Federation in 1970s, Poland
handed over a number of buildings on attractive plots near the Prime Minister's
Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So far, their status is not
regulated, even though it has been communicated multiple times by experts that
such state of things can cause disputes in the future. According to TVN, the
Russian Federation does not pay taxes on these properties.
Furthermore,
there are ongoing speculation about inappropriate use of those properties to
achieve the political objectives of Moscow, such as eavesdropping of operations
of key state institutions of Poland – keeping in mind location of these
buildings, it could be a good point of such actions.
Jukos Case: the history
Yukos,
like most of the largest Russian oil companies, was founded in 1993. According
to the contemporary concept of restructuring the oil industry of Russia, were
to arise four independent from each other companies extracting and processing
oil: Rosneft, Lukoil, Surgutneftegaz and Yukos that control both the deposits
of raw material and oil refineries. Yukos became the first fully private
Russian oil company. Over the next few years, Yukos underwent a complete
restructuring and began to bear huge profits.
Over
the course of a decade, thanks to the excellent administrative personnel (
invited to work in the Western manner, from Western European countries and the
United States), Yukos started to be considered to be the most transparent of
the Russian corporations, which undoubtedly resulted from its clear, carefully
planned management strategy. Such perception of a company have been observed in
Russia, as well as in the West.
At
the time when Vladimir Putin has taken the President’s position, Yukos was in a
very good financial situation. The company had been present on the
international stock markets (for example in New York, London and Munich) as
well as had started to intensively invest in international projects (for
example in Slovakia, Lithuania or China).
“Yukos
Scandal” has started from outspoken, critical discussion between Vladimir Putin
and the main stakeholder of a company, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Khodorkovsky repeatedly
criticized Kremlin’s politics and their way of governing, which created
favourable environment for corruption as well as limited possibilities of
construction of a private pipeline. The millionaire was very persistent with his
opinion and started to actively support political opposition (based on: Rosjapl.info).
At
the time, public opinion did not see mismatch in Khodorkovsky’s engaging the
business community in political affairs. In 2003, shortly before the upcoming
parliamentary elections, the head of Yukos has financially supported three
parties (opposition to Kremlin’s delegation): Union of Right Forces, Yabloko
and the Communists, hoping to create in the parliament significant
counterweight to the presidential’ party. Even though Khodorkovsky never
expressed his willingness to be active politician, he generated the atmosphere
of ambiguity (mojeopinie.pl).
Mikhail
Khodorkovsky was arrested in October 2003. He is soon convicted for alleged tax
evasion and financial fraud. Regardless of the actual scale of irregularities,
the process claimed the defendant guilty before it has even started. In 2006, the
court announced the bankruptcy of Yukos. The company's assets largely took over
the state-owned energy giant Rosneft. Khodorkovsky himself was sentenced to 8
years of forced labour at a penal colony.
Conclusion
As
Institute for the Eastern Studies points out in their analysis, Yukos Case had brought
new “colours” to the Russian political scene. After the "plebiscite"
presidential election in March 2004, Vladimir Putin finally became a dominant
player on the political scene, strengthened its independence from the elite and
gained greater social support. Elected in 2000 the strong president, but never before
recognized as charismatic character, now was replaced by a president dominating
the entire system. This significantly limited pluralism in the Russian political
scene.
International
environment perceives politics of Kremlin’s negatively, but it does not seem to
stop Putin from emphasizing his dominance. Even in the light of, pretty big, liabilities
that the Russian state to pay to the former shareholders of Yukos, Kremlin
seems to be very defensive and convinced of their invincibility.
The article was written
thanks to information found on:
Picture:
Khodorkovsky,
at the background with the logo of Yukos:
http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/BC0F/production/_83734184_khodnewindexafp.jpg
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