Yukos, Moscow lawyers back in court in $50bn appeal case

Former shareholders of defunct Russian oil giant Yukos were back in a Dutch court yesterday as Moscow’s lawyers pressed judges for a quick resolution of a complex appeals case.

The claimants, led by the former main shareholder GML, in July last year appealed a Dutch court’s decision to overturn a ruling ordering Moscow to pay them a record $50 billion in damages. “The Russian Federation has a significant interest in an expedient and concentrated conduct of this appeal,” Russian Federation representative Albert Jan van den Berg told judges at The Hague’s Appeals Court. The $50 billion in damages “is a massive amount, also for the Russian Federation,” Van den Berg said, adding Russia “is entitled to obtain a final decision upholding the judgement of the District Court as quickly as possible.” Yukos was once Russia’s biggest postSoviet oil company but was broken up after its former owner, Kremlin critic and ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested in 2003.

His arrest came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin, then prime minister, warned the nation’s growing class of oligarchs against meddling in politics.

Yukos was sold off in opaque auctions to state companies led by Rosneft between 2004 and 2006. State-owned Rosneft was then small, but has since become a leading player among the world’s biggest listed oil companies by production volume. The claimants have sought since 2005 to win compensation for what they say are their losses caused by the break-up of Yukos. —AFP