An American court has ruled that it does not have jurisdiction to grant bankruptcy protection for YUKOS assets in America. The court acknowledges that
the Russian governments actions were confiscatory under US law. The court ruled however that company assets in America were under Russian jurisdiction
and could not be given bankruptcy protection. US Bankruptcy could have protected some YUKOS assets from a recent Russian government auction, imposed
in order to settle a tax bill.
news.bbc.co.uk
A judge has dismissed an attempt by Russian oil giant Yukos to gain bankruptcy protection in the US.
Yukos filed for Chapter 11 protection in Houston in an unsuccessful attempt to halt the auction of its Yugansk division by the Russian authorities.
Yukos had argued that a US court was entitled to declare it bankrupt before its Yugansk unit was sold, since it has local bank accounts and its chief
finance officer Bruce Misamore lives in Houston.
Yugansk - Yukos' main oil producing unit - was sold to help pay off $27.5bn (£14.5bn) in unpaid taxes. It was bought for $9.4bn by a previously
unknown group, which was in turn bought up almost immediately by state-controlled oil company Rosneft.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
Wow, so the United States is declaring that it has no right to interfere with the assets of the recently nationalized Russian oil giant in this
country. The decision is obviously politically important, and the question to ask is, was it politically influenced? I'd watch out for possible
repercussions against that court from our government, or for any overt signs that our government might for some reason want to let Russia regress.
Whatever has happened, this is not a decision I would have expected at all.
[edit on 25-2-2005 by Banshee]
