| Russneft subsidiary suspected of tax evasion Russneft has problems in connection with its acquisition of the Cypriot company Benodet Investments Ltd, which owns licenses to develop seven fields in the Tomsk region. As Interfax was told by the local police department, last week a case was opened into tax evasion on a particularly large scale by persons responsible for organizing and maintaining accounting records at Benodet Investments Ltd. According to investigators, the damage caused to the budget amounted to about $300 thousand. However, it dates back to the period when RussNeft was not yet the owner of the asset.
Russneft, owned by the famous entrepreneur Mikhail Gutseriev, bought Benodet Investments at the end of 2004. The reserves of the fields managed by the Cyprus company are estimated at 17.5 million tons of oil. In 2004, the total production volume from these areas was approximately 800 thousand tons.
According to some reports, the previous owner of Benodet Investments was YUKOS. However, RussNeft claims that the previous owner of the asset were five offshore companies, which, according to representatives of Mr. Gutseriev’s company, are in no way connected with YUKOS. At the same time, there is indirect confirmation of the connection between YUKOS and the Cyprus offshore: when in 1999, greenmailer Kenneth Dart sold shares of the main mining subsidiaries of YUKOS, Benodet Investments was one of the two buyers of the securities. Moreover, before RussNeft acquired Benodet Investments, the fields of the Cyprus company were developed by YUKOS subsidiary Tomskneft under the terms of an agency agreement.
And although Russneft does not admit that they bought assets from YUKOS, several similar transactions have been made recently. YUKOS recently confirmed that it had sold its 50 percent stake in a joint venture with the Hungarian MOL for the development of the Zapadno-Malobalykskoye field, which it also controlled through an offshore company. RussNeft officially denies that it acquired this asset, however, according to the Central Dispatch Department of the Fuel and Energy Complex, since July the production of the joint venture has been consolidated within the company of Mr. Gutseriev. In addition, sources in YUKOS claim that back in the spring, Russneft bought 34% in the Geoilbent company from the disgraced holding company. YUKOS also controlled this asset through the Cypriot offshore Broadwood Trading. However, Russneft has not recognized this purchase for several months.
If Benodet Investments really belonged to YUKOS, then the filing of claims against the company's employees does not seem surprising. According to the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Tomsk Region, initial investigative actions are now being carried out in a criminal case of tax evasion. According to preliminary data, the damage amounts to 8.835 million rubles. Representatives of the department do not specify for what period of the company’s activities the claims were made, but they reported that the audit examined the work of the holding from January 2002 to December 2003.
RussNeft says that it has not yet received any documents regarding the inspection of Benodet Investments, so it cannot answer whether the employees against whom the charges have been brought work for them. Denis REBROV |
|
