The Supreme Court docket of the Netherlands has agreed to think about Russia’s attraction in opposition to a decrease court docket ruling, which awarded multi-billion-dollar compensation to former shareholders of the defunct Russian oil large, Yukos.
In keeping with the Russian authorities, The Hague Court docket of Enchantment “uncared for quite a few info of violation by the plaintiffs of anti-corruption and “anti-laundering” laws. Particularly, the previous house owners of Yukos “allowed systematic tax evasion, unlawful withdrawal of belongings overseas, cash laundering and different unlawful actions.”
The Russian Justice Ministry mentioned on Friday that Moscow “will persistently defend its pursuits each within the cassation occasion of the Netherlands and in different jurisdictions.”
On February 18, The Hague Court docket of Enchantment reinstated an order of the Everlasting Court docket of Arbitration in The Hague, which obliged Russia to pay greater than $ 50 billion to corporations related to former Yukos shareholders in 2014.
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The Russian Justice Ministry introduced instantly after the ruling that it will attraction the court docket’s choice, saying the court docket had ignored the truth that the previous Yukos shareholders weren’t “bona fide buyers.”
It has additionally identified that the European Court docket of Human Rights (ECHR) didn’t discover any political motives within the prison prosecution of former Yukos executives Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, and that no compensation can be awarded.
The arbitration panel had initially dominated that Moscow seized management of Yukos in 2003 by hitting the corporate with large tax claims. It ordered Russia to pay former shareholders $ 50 billion in compensation.
Russia challenged that call, sending an in depth response to The Hague’s District Court docket. It expanded on arguments about illegal acts dedicated throughout and after the privatization of Yukos. It additionally revealed examples of manipulation and collusion throughout mortgage auctions, in addition to the bribing of state managers and the creation of an intensive community of shell corporations to keep away from taxes. As well as, it highlighted the export of illegally acquired belongings overseas, concealing the true beneficiaries of the supposedly overseas corporations that filed lawsuits in The Hague in opposition to Russia.
In April 2016, The Hague’s District Court docket overturned a call by the Everlasting Court docket of Arbitration, ordering Russia to compensate former shareholders of the corporate that was as soon as owned by oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
In the summertime of that 12 months, former shareholders appealed to the Hague Court docket of Enchantment to reverse the district court docket’s choice and restore the arbitral awards.
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A preliminary probe into the primary Yukos case was opened in Russia in 2003. The oil firm was accused of tax fraud and declared bankrupt by a Russian court docket in 2006, with its belongings bought at public sale as a part of the liquidation course of.
Former chairman of Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his enterprise accomplice Platon Lebedev had been discovered responsible of embezzlement, tax evasion and cash laundering. In keeping with the probe, Khodorkovsky scammed Yukos’ minor shareholders, siphoning $ 51 billion to offshore accounts.
READ MORE: Russian tycoon Khodorkovsky received oil large Yukos with a bribe & ROBBED western shareholders – report
The previous oil tycoon was sentenced to 9 years in jail in 2005 following a prolonged authorized battle, which was elevated to 11 years after a second trial resulted in late 2010. He was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin in 2013 and left Russia for Germany, Switzerland, after which the UK.
In 2015, Russian prosecutors accused Khodorkovsky of ordering the homicide of the mayor of the Siberian metropolis Nefteyugansk, Vladimir Petukhov, and an tried assassination of businessman Evgeny Rybin. He was then positioned on a world needed listing.
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