YUKOS, the embattled Russian oil firm, has appealed to the Financial Services Authority to halt the multi-billion-pound Rosneft flotation.
Yukos submitted a 33-page document to the FSA alleging that Rosneft’s principal asset, the Yuganskneftegaz (YNG) oilfields and refinery, were “expropriated” by the Russian State in breach of Russian, European and English law; and then bought by Rosneft “at a very substantial undervalue”. Yukos says it will seek a judicial review if the FSA fails to act.
Rosneft bought YNG in December 2004, after the Government had seized it from Yukos claiming that it was owed about £15 billion in back-taxes. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the oil tycoon and owner of Yukos, was arrested for tax fraud and is serving a nine-year prison sentence.
Sergei Bogdanchikov, chief executive